The End Of Our World
by Copperpelt
Summary: When waking up the day after his 20th birthday, Shun and his friends are greeted with something unexpected; a zombie apocalypse. Now the Brawlers have to find a safe haven without being eaten alive. RATED T FOR DEATH, GORE, LANGUAGE. SxA, DxR. READ PLZ!
1. Waking To The Dead

_Shun_

The light of dawn filtered into the window of my grandfather's dojo. My eyes squinted as they adjusted to the sudden light that was blinding my vision. When I looked around, I was laying on the couch in the sitting room, and Dan, Runo, Julie, Alice, and Murucho were laid around on the floor.

I reminded myself of the party we had last night. It wasn't anything too crazy. My friends had just decided to throw me a surprise party for my birthday. It was a kind thought, but I could of lived without it. Leftover cake was still sitting on the table, along with paper plates and cups that hadn't been thrown away. I sighed, knowing when my grandfather returned tomorrow that he would have a fit if he saw the house in this condition.

He had been out of town to give a demonstration, and would return tomorrow. I quietly got up and picked up the trash. It seemed kind of wrong for me to be cleaning up the mess, when I didn't expect the party from the start. When I returned from the kitchen, I saw my friends beginning to stir.

_Great timing guys. Wake up __**after **__I clean up the mess why don't ya?_ Dan sat up and rubbed his eyes, "Dude, what time is it?" I raised an eyebrow and told him, "10 in the morning. I thought you guys said you weren't going to crash here." Dan laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "Hehehe. Woops." I rolled my eyes and saw the others were all starting to fully wake up now. Alice, who had fallen asleep on another couch, was still out cold.

I smiled. Seemed like recently I had developed a crush on the orange haired Russian. She then opened her eyes slowly and sat up. She saw me looking at her and smiled. I quickly turned around and felt my face heat up with blush. Dan popped up next to me and whispered into my ear, "Somebody likes Alice." I was about to slap my idiot friend when Murucho said, "Hey Shun, there's somebody in your yard." I gave the short blonde a quizzical look and walked over to the window where he was looking out.

I pulled the curtains back and looked out the glass. The others followed behind me and looked as well. Sure enough, there was a girl stumbling around wearing a light blue dress. Her hair looked matted with dirt, but I could tell it was brown in color. Dan asked me, "Have you ever seen her, Shun?" I shook my head. Something about the way she moved didn't look right. It was if her body had a mind of its own. Her skin looked discolored too. The skin was a bluish gray, and looked bruised. I began to think maybe she had been beaten and made her way onto my property.

Runo inched closer to the window and said, "Maybe we should go see if she's alright. She might be sick." Dan did a short laugh and said, "I ain't going out there. She looks like some kind of loony bird if you ask me." Runo hit him in the arm and said, "Dan, just pop your head out of the door and ask her if she's lost or needs help." Dan sighed in reluctance and told her, "Fine. But if I get attacked it's your fault."

We watched out of the window to see what the girl would do when she heard Dan. Dan made his way to the door, and I heard him turn the knob. "Hey! Girl! Do you need some help?" The girl's head whipped around at him. This was the first time we had seen it, and it took away our breaths. Her eyes were milky white, and her face seemed to be covered in blood and beginning to decompose. _Decompose? Does she have some kind of disease?_

We heard her let out some kind of a cross between a wail and roar, and she began to shuffle towards the door where Dan was standing. We heard Dan scream, and the door slam shut and lock behind him. He yanked us away from the window and pulled the curtains closed, and threw us all to the ground. Julie yelled at him, "Dan! What is your problem? That girl needs medical attention and you just ran away!" Dan was panting, fear flooding from his eyes.

"That thing was trying to eat me! It needs more than medical attention! I don't even think it's human! Oh no! It's coming towards the window! Everybody, shut up!" We all hushed our voices as we laid on the floor, and saw through the curtains the silhouette of the girl. I felt my heart racing in my chest. Dan was right, there _was _something wrong with that girl. She raised up her hand and tapped it on the window, then her hand slid down the glass and she walked off. My hands were shaking.

Whether it was just a girl that was sick or what, it sent chills down my spine to even think about her. We all slowly sat up from the floor. Dan had his arms wrapped around Runo, Murucho and Julie were close to each other for security, and I realized that my hand was holding on tightly to Alice's. We both looked down and pulled away from each other, both blushing. We all were standing up now, and beginning to calm down. Julie was staring into the kitchen, and said, "Did we leave the kitchen door open last night?" We all looked at her, and then into the kitchen at the open door. I shook my head. "I don't think so." A low moaning sounded to our lefts, and we all turned and saw the strange girl from outside, _now inside the house._

She raised her arms up and us and did her wail, then began to come at us. The girls squealed, and me, Dan, and Murucho couldn't suppress our own feelings of terror. We ran through the open kitchen door and into the front yard where we first saw the inhuman girl. When we were outside, Julie was the last to run from the house, but tripped in the doorway. Before she could get up, the intruder grabbed at her.

Julie turned to face her and kicked her feet at her attacker, but the girl grabbed her arm and bit down with her teeth. Julie screamed out in pain and fear. Runo called out, "Julie! Let her go you freak!" I had to think quick. This freak of nature was going to eat her. My eyes fell on one of the staffs that my grandfather and I use for training, and ran over to it and took it in my hand. I stood in front of Julie and the girl. Julie had tears rolling down her eyes, and the girl looked up at me, blood and drool pouring from her mouth. She smelled of death and decay, and I almost threw up at the stench. She hissed at me and lunged for my body.

That was when I took the staff and hit her on the head with all the force I could manage. She fell to the ground, and didn't move or make a sound. Julie pushed herself away from the body, still crying. Runo ran to her side and embraced her in a huge, while Julie buried her face into Runo's shoulder and cried. I was shaking with adrenaline. _What is this thing?_ I looked down at my white and green shirt and khaki pants. They were splattered with blood; from both Julie and this creature. I dropped the staff, and turned to Julie. The others were all gathered around her to try and calm the crying sliver haired girl.

I knelt down in front of her and asked Runo, "How bad is she hurt?" Runo's hands were covered in Julie's blood. "That thing took a pretty big chunk out of her arm, and it won't stop bleeding." Julie began looking pale and sick. _She must be feeling ill from the blood loss._ "Come on. Let's get her inside and get that wound cleaned out. No telling what diseases that thing had."

Runo, Alice, and Murucho helped the now wobbling Julie inside. Dan and I stood looking at the still body of the girl I had either just killed or knocked out. He asked me, "What do you think that thing is? Cause it sure as hell isn't human. Anymore at least." I shook my head, unable to find any words to describe it. I told Dan, "I don't know what the hell it is. But I sure know I don't want to be around here if it wakes back up." Dan agreed with me and went inside. We made sure to lock all the doors when we did.

_Alice_

I was horrified at what had just happened. Julie had been attacked by some cannibalistic diseased girl, and now she was beginning to look very sickly. We had wrapped up the bite made by the girl, and laid her on the couch in Shun's dojo. The wound still hadn't stopped bleeding though, and was staining the couch underneath the bandages. Dan and Shun both entered the room from the kitchen and joined us around Julie. Dan asked in a concerned voice, "Has the bleeding stopped?" Murucho wiped the sweat from Julie forehead and said, "Unfortunately no. And she's getting a pretty bad fever."

I was sure she had obtained an infection from the disgusting mouth of that thing that was still laying outside. I was happy Shun killed it. The only thing that shocked me was that Shun had it in him to kill a human, or what was a human, without a second thought. Shun sighed and said, "Might as well turn on the TV and see if there's any news about this. Maybe that thing escaped some kind of medical lab." He flipped through the channels and found the local news station. There was a video showing downtown Bay City covered in smoke and flames.

People were running from the streets, and police shooting at people just like the girl who attacked Julie. Same skin color and everything. The anchor man back at the station came back on and said seriously, "Everyone has be advised to stay inside their homes. Lock all doors and windows. Don't allow anyone inside your house under any circumstances. And don't let these things bite you." All of us were in shock at the report. _What is happening?_ Dan raised an eyebrow and said, "Wait a minute. Julie was bitten by one of them things."

We all turned to face our hurt friend. Her body was the colorless shade of bluish gray, and she didn't move. Murucho approached her slowly and placed two fingers on her neck. We remained silent before he said, "She's dead." I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Runo broke down, and grabbed onto Dan and cried at the loss of her friend. The rest of us stared at nothing out of shock. Everything around me became muffled. Never in a million years did I expect one of my best friends to die cause she was bitten by some abomination. Shun took a deep, shaky breath and said, "Let's go into the kitchen." We didn't argue, and filed into the kitchen as Shun stayed behind and covered Julie's body with a white sheet from a closet.

_Shun_

To watch somebody die before your eyes, was something I never wanted to see again. I didn't want to play coroner again either. Once I had covered Julie's body up with the sheet, I joined the others in the kitchen. Dan was still comforting Runo, Murucho was trying to put this into logical meanings but couldn't, and Alice was just sitting there like a statue.

I told them, "I'm going to turn the TV on in here and keep in tune with what's happening. Kay?" They all nodded their spaced out heads. The same anchor man was on, and this time he had acquired more information.

"It is estimated that the death toll had risen to over 400, and is estimated to rise within the hour. We have learned that the only way to kill these 'walkers' is to produce a sharp blow, decapitation, or a bullet to the head. We have also learned that once you are bitten you are infected with this deadly, and quick, virus. Within a matter of minutes, the victim dies, and returns as one of the 'walkers'. We are advising you all to seclude any that have been infected." We all quietly peered into the sitting room, and saw the figure of a body sitting up under the white sheet I had used to cover up Julie. I heard Dan say under his breath, "Oh crap." It seemed like one bad thing led to another today.

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><p>i'm going to have to upload lots to try and finish this for halloween. i had an idea for this for a while. and i just thought about it. i WILL be able to upload sunday, and part of saturday. fair warning, i have a warped mind so this may be a very disturbing story. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. as far as i know, there havent been any zombie fics yet (in English anyway. please correct me if i am wrong) just let you all know, there will be more Shun and Alice in the next few chapters. and slight Dan and Runo. I'm trying to tweak around with that pairing. well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	2. What Has To Be Done

_Shun_

Runo was about to start crying again, and Dan covered her mouth and took her away from the sight. Just cause we couldn't see what Julie looked like, didn't mean we didn't already know. Dan whispered over to me, "You're going to have to do it." _Me? Why me? I don't want to kill Julie. Even if she some form of living dead._ I was about to protest to Dan, but he had sat with Runo down at the table with Murucho and Alice.

I sighed. This was the best time if any to do the deed; when I didn't have to see Julie's face, the others didn't have to watch, and Julie didn't know it was coming. I had left my staff outside, and needed a new weapon. I looked around the kitchen. The broom we used to sweep the floor wouldn't be strong enough to do the job. I didn't have many options in the kitchen, and then I remembered something. I glanced in the sitting room and saw my grandfather's sword hung up on the wall over the TV.

As long as the sheet stayed on Julie, she wouldn't be able to see me grab it. I cringed at the thought of taking a blade to one of my best friends' skulls, but nobody else needed to be made into lunch. And I knew the longer I waited around, the harder it would be to re-kill her. I silently stalked into the room, and reached over the TV and pulled the sword down. The thing that was once Julie didn't move, but only moaned.

As I approached her from behind, I readied to tip of the sword to pierce the skull. Right when I was about to strike, the sheet slid off and she turned to face me. Her white, soulless eyes looked right into mine, and for a minute it looked like she was begging me to not kill her. The minute was short lived as she turned vicious and bared her teeth and lunged for my throat.

I reacted quickly and shoved the tip of the blade through her eye and into her skull. Her body didn't move, and when I removed the blade, her body fell forward and off the couch and onto the floor. I held the sword by my side as Julie's blood dripped from the sharpened steel. Blood trickled from her eye, and I felt sick. I held my hand over my mouth and hurried into the nearest bathroom.

It wasn't long till there was a knocking at the bathroom door. "Shun, you ok in there, buddy?" _Dan._ I felt a wet tear roll down my cheek as I looked at the blood covered sword once more. _Do the others think of me as some killer now? All because I killed Julie? I had to. She would of killed all of us if I hadn't. That thing wasn't Julie anymore._ I swallowed the lump in my throat and wiped the tear stains from my eyes.

I reached for the handle of the sword and wet a wash cloth and wiped away the blood, the stuck the blade back into its holder. I turned the knob and saw Dan standing there, worry and sympathy on his face. I asked him, "Did you see the body?" Dan nodded his head slowly.

I was positive he saw the red tint in my eyes from where I had been crying. It was different killing one of those things when you didn't know the person, but killing one who was your friend at one point left a sick taste in my mouth. Dan patted me on the back with his hand and told me in a reassuring tone, "Don't let it get to you, Shun. You did the right thing." I felt the lump return in my throat, and this time a sob escaped me. I took a breath and asked Dan, "What about the body? I'm sure you haven't let the others see it, right?"

Dan lowered his eyes and said, "I didn't move the body. I only covered it back up. But I'm making sure the others don't see it." Another sob left my body. I looked down at my clothes again. Unlike earlier, the little blood splatters had turned into huge stains. And I knew whose blood it was. I told Dan, "I need to change. Get out of these clothes and clean up." Dan nodded, understanding my predicament.

I gave him the sword in case another one of those things got in the house some how. I went back into the bathroom after grabbing a clean set of clothes, and turned the water on in the shower. I let the water heat up before stepping inside, and the reality of everything started setting in.

This was happening all in the city, maybe even the world. People were turning into those things; friends, family, strangers. People either had it in them to kill their attackers, and let them be at their mercy. More sobs came from my mouth. At this point, I had every right to cry. The world had gone to hell in a handbag.

_Alice_

Dan didn't want us to see Julie's body. He kept telling us it would probably be too much for us to handle. I began wondering what Shun had done, and figured it out when I saw Dan holding the sword that was placed over the TV set in the sitting room. He had probably took off Julie's head, or cut it in half. I asked him, "Where's Shun now?" He leaned the sword against the cabinets in the kitchen and said, "He's cleaning up. He seems to be really out of it. But can you blame him?"

I understood what he was talking about. Shun had probably just been traumatized from having to kill one of his own friends. I spoke up to Dan and said, "I want to see Julie." He looked at me and asked, "Are you sure?" Runo and Murucho were both staring at me. I knew I shouldn't of brought up her name. That I should of kept my voice down. I nodded my head, and Dan motioned for me to come with him. We both walked into the sitting room and I saw a lump under a blood stained sheet.

Dan asked me, "Do you want me to remove the sheet?" I did. I wanted to see what Shun had done. I promised myself quickly that I wouldn't think any different of Shun for what he did. Dan removed the sheet, and I understood why Shun had run off into the bathroom and gotten sick. What I saw wasn't Julie. It wasn't human either. It was the personification of this virus that was attacking the city.

I nodded my head, and Dan covered the body back up. We both walked back into the kitchen, and Runo and Murucho were watching the TV. The reported said the death toll had climbed to over 1,000. Or should I say _undead _toll. We sat and watched the story and kept up with what was happening outside of the dojo. Shun then walked into the kitchen, and we all looked at him.

He didn't make eye contact with us, but we could see his face clearly. His eyes were red and puffy from crying, and his hair was still dripping wet from the shower. I stood up from the table and looked at him. "Oh, Shun…" I walked up to him and he then wrapped his arms and embraced me. I felt my shirt gain a small wet dot that I figured out to be a tear. Shun was crying again.

He took a few deep breaths and let go of me. I couldn't tell if he was blushing or if his face was red from crying. I saw him swallow and he said shakily, "Sorry about that." I grabbed Shun's wrist and he looked at me. "Shun, how about you go lay down for a little bit?"

Dan walked up next to me and said, "Yeah, Shun. You've had a pretty rough day. I think we can hold down the fort for a night or so." Shun didn't seem to want to at first, then he sighed and told us, "Yeah. I guess it wouldn't hurt." Dan smiled slightly and walked off through another room to go to his.

_Shun_

I had issues falling asleep. Most people probably would after they had to kill their friend when they had turned into a flesh eating monster. My room was upstairs, and I looked out the window and gasped. Over the wall that separated the dojo from the street, was crawling with about twenty or thirty of the monsters. I gulped and prayed that they didn't find a way to get in like the first one did.

_How did that one get in here anyway?_ I knew that when one got it, more could too. I had to find a way to look over the perimeter without being seen by those mindless creatures. Standing on the roof would be like advertising that there was fresh meat inside. I shook my head. _I'll think about this later. Right now I need to rest my mind after everything that's happened._ I laid down on my bed, feeling warm and safe.

If the world hadn't been overtaken by the living dead, I would of thought it was just another day. My eyes began to grow heavy, but I was too scared to fall asleep. I was afraid that I would wake up again and the dojo would be overrun by the monsters and my friends would be turned into them too. I shook my head. _Thinking like that won't help anyone._ I thought about how in the kitchen I hugged Alice.

I blushed at the memory. I had picked a hell of a time to start making moves on her. With the end of the world and all of that. The hug was more for emotional support though. I appreciated that she didn't start accusing me of murder, but that didn't mean that Runo or Murucho didn't think that.

_I doubt Murucho does. He's a logical person. Runo on the other hand is so mixed up from all of this that she might._ I yawned as sleep started to lull my mind into a safer state. All I could so is hope that the same people in dojo were still people when I woke up.

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><p>ok. i'm tired so no more for tonight. -yawns- well, read, review, and other things.<p> 


	3. Escape And Sacrifice

_Dan_

Shun had been asleep for several hours, and nighttime was beginning to fall around the dojo. Murucho was posted as a lookout, and was going from window to window to look for intruders on the property. He's check every twenty minutes or so, and would come back to us in the kitchen. I'd ask him, "See anything?" Every time he shook his head no and we all sighed in relief.

Alice seemed to be holding up pretty well, although looks could be deceiving as I had learned from Shun before. Runo was starting to regain her composure, and accepting the fact Julie was gone. The TV was still on, and now they were repeating that everyone needed to stay within their homes for safety. The anchor man was the last thing we saw before the signal was dropped.

_Looks like those things got into the news station._ I growled and burst out with, "We can't just stay here and wait for this thing to blow over. Because odds are it isn't. I hate to sound negative, but the longer we stay here the more of those things are going to pop up and our chances of turning into lunch increase." They knew I was correct, but they didn't want to accept it.

They didn't want to think that the living dead was filling the streets of the city most of us had grown up in. Murucho looked at me and said, "Dan's right. But where do we go? Most of the city has be turned into those things."

I sat down at the table with the others and placed my chin in my hands to think. I got an idea, and asked Murucho, "Do you know if your place is safe, Murucho?" The blonde looked at me, trying to see my plan I was hatching in my mind. "It may be, but odds are it isn't. Why? What's there that can help us?" I grinned, the first genuine grin since all of this started. "Your jet."

_Alice_

What did Dan think we were going to do? Fly as long as we could so those things didn't get us? _We'd have to refuel and stock up on food eventually._ Runo asked Dan in a soft and fragile voice, "And what is the jet going to accomplish for us?" When Dan grinned this time, I knew he had most of this thought out thoroughly.

He answered Runo's, and all our questions with, "We take the jet to Alice's place in Moscow, and use Dr. Michaels' transporter and go to one of our allies like Vestal, Neathia, or Gundalia. And if we can find any of our family members along the way, we take them with us."

It was a very good plan, but we all realized something when Dan brought up our families. Odds were, they were probably dead. I felt a pang in my chest to think that my grandfather was back home walking around with those creatures and looking for other people to eat and turn.

I then chimed it and said, "It's a good plan, but how do we get from here, all the way to Murucho's place through hoards of once living people?" Dan didn't seem to of added in the variable of that the walking dead outside, and went back to thinking. He shrugged his shoulders and said flatly, "We hope for the best and try to outrun those things." That was basically all we could do.

_Shun_

The sky had turned black with night outside of my window when I woke up. I sat up slowly, and scanned my room thinking that one of those things could be in here. Once I saw it was clear, I got up and walked out of my room. I was very cautious as I walked down the hallway and stairs. I took the other way into the kitchen, avoiding walking past a bad memory in the sitting room.

The others were still gathered around the table in the kitchen. Dan was the first to see me, and I knew he thought for a minute that I was one of those monsters. Once he realized it was me he said, "Feeling better after sleeping?" I leaned on the cabinets and told him, "Kind of. I don't think I'll ever feel better after what happened though."

Dan understood what I meant. I still felt sick after putting that blade into Julie's eye socket. I might of felt less guilt about it if she had just remained covered and I never saw her face. _That cold, dead, __**soulless**__face._ Chills went up my body at the memory. Murucho broke my silent thoughts, and said, "Dan came up with a plan." I looked at him, questioning him with my eyes.

"Oh really? What is it?" Murucho pointed in the direction of his house and said, "If we can make it to my place without being eaten, we can take the jet and fly to Moscow and use Dr. Michaels' transporter and teleport to one of our allies." I was impressed. For a minute I thought that Murucho may of actually thought it up, but Dan seemed to be highly proud of himself. I asked them, "And how do you just plan on getting there. The streets are crawling with those things. If we take one step out of those doors, we're dead."

They didn't know that the street behind the large wall was a flowing river of living death. I sighed and closed my eyes. "Wait. My grandfather has another car parked in the garage in the back of the house. We could stock it up with supplies and drive out of here. But I don't know how much gas it has left." They exchanged looks at each other. It was the best plan we had at the moment.

Runo then asked me, "How do we open the gate without letting those things eat the one who opens it? And who will be the one to do it to let the car through."

It was true that the minute that when those things saw the gate open and a car full of people sitting there and one of them standing there in the open, that they would start coming after us. And if too many piled up in front of the car, the vehicle may not be able to move. And we'd be canned meat. I stepped forward and said, "I'll open the gate."

_Dan_

I could of slapped some sense into my best friend's mind after what he just said. Shun basically took a suicide mission to let us have an attempt safety that we didn't even know that existed. I stood up and protested, "Shun! You can't do that! They'll kill you the minute they see you!"

He crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes. _He knows they'll probably kill him._ He opened his eyes and looked right at me and said, "I'm fully aware of the risk I'm taking. But you guys need to try and make it to the jet. Right now, it's your best chance."

I saw the confidence in his eyes, but also saw pure fear. I had never seen that in Shun before. I had seen every other emotion, but never fear. It reminded me how bad things really were out tried to sound reassuring to us, "Listen guys. I'm much faster than those things. And stronger. I'm sure I can hold my own for a while." _Yeah, a while. Then they'll finally get you and that'll be it._ The others were refusing Shun's decision to open the gate, when I cut them all off and said, "So, when do we start packing up? And what do we need to take?"

_Alice_

My ears weren't believing what they were hearing. Shun was going on a suicide mission to try and help us. It could all be in vain for all we know. Shun was giving Dan a list of things to take; food, water, and weapons. I shook my head and said, "You can't just let him do this Dan! You can't just let Shun feed himself to those things!"

I didn't even realize that tears were rolling off of my cheeks. I felt a hand grab onto mine, and I looked down to see Murucho was holding it to try and reassure me. He told me, "Let Shun do this. I don't want him to either. I don't want to lose anyone else, but this will be the only chance we have to escape."

I looked at Shun, feeling more tears roll down my face. I nodded my head and said, "Ok. Just don't go down without a fight, Shun." He nodded his head and we began hunting boxes to put food and other things inside. We carried them to the garage, and Shun and Dan searched around for any intruders.

Once we saw it was clear, we loaded the boxes into the backseat and trunk. Shun took us all to this one room, and when he opened the door we were faced with everything from ninja stars to swords. He told us, "Take everything you think you need." Now the backseat of the car was filled with food, water, and weapons. We were a force to be reckoned with.

_Dan_

I quietly drove the car out in front of the gate. All of our supplies almost blocked my view from the rear window, but I could still see. Murucho, Alice, and Runo were in the passenger seats while I was driving the car. I looked out to my right and saw Shun standing outside of the car, the sword he used to kill Julie in his hand.

He was prepping himself to swing open the gates and release us. He made sure that he was clear and told us to drive the minute the doors opened. Shun I both were taking deep breaths, to try and ready ourselves. I hated seeing this was the way I'd lose my best friend; to the teeth of those monsters. I knew that they'd have problems catching him though. _Maybe Shun will make it, but he won't be able to get on the jet with us. _

We would end up leaving him anyway. Shun gave me the signal asking if I was ready. I nodded my head and readied my hands on the wheel and foot on the accelerator. Shun walked up to the gate and pushed it open. I slammed my foot on the gas and the tires spun in the dirt before the car took off.

Shun was right. The street was crawling with the flesh eating creatures. The tires finally grabbed traction, and the car flew from the gate. I heard Shun yell out before I was too far away. "Come and get me you bastards!"

_Alice_

Some of the zombies acknowledged us when we drove off, but most of them started after Shun. I turned around to try and see Shun, but the supplies blocked my view. I turned back around and saw everyone was deathly silent. We were all grieving already.

In reality, Shun was the strongest out of all of us. Our chances would of probably been greater if we had him with us still, but right now he had given us a fighting chance. The car flew past the stumbling living dead, and they'd turn and look at us as we went by.

A few would try and walk after us, but gave up when we were further away. They seemed to be thickening the closer we got to the city. It was to be expected anyway. We were now in the city, and we saw the same buildings in that news video that were destroyed and on fire.

Surprisingly, the streets were pretty empty. I began to think maybe they had all moved to the other side of the city, and that this would be too easy. And that Shun's sacrifice would be in vain. I thought too soon, as one of the monsters ran into the street and attacked the car.

Dan panicked and turned the wheel to get away, but made the car flip over onto its side. Something hit me in the back of my head, and my vision was turning fuzzy. The last thing I remembered, was seeing a hoard of zombies stumbling in the way of the car. Everything then went black.

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><p>im watching the new episode of Mechtanium Surge. XP lol. thanks for all the reviews! XD this story will be one of my shorter ones, cause i mainly have everything set out. i had the beginning and end planned out. i just have to fill in the middle. XP well, i think that's all for now. I may upload later on during the night. not entirely sure. there will be many uploads sunday though. read, review, and other things! ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	4. Fallen Comrade

_Alice_

The sounds of low moans woke me from my unconsciousness, and I opened my eyes to a frightening sight. My friends were all knocked out as well, and a hoard of flesh eating monsters were coming after us. We were sitting ducks at their mercy. I began to panic, and tried to undo my seatbelt and break free. Luck for me, I was laying against the side of the car that was on the ground.

Unlike Murucho and Runo, who were suspended by their seatbelts. I finally clicked the button and was able to move around. The zombies began to try and break into the car. I needed to find a weapon, and quick. I scrambled around in the overturned boxes. Some of the food had spilt from their containers and into the box. I then remembered that the weapons were stuck in the trunk.

I leaned over the seats and began hitting Dan. "Dan! Dan! Wake up! Please wake up!" His eyes opened slowly, and he looked at me. "Alice. What happened?" He had a thin line of blood trickling from his forehead where he must have been hit by something on the impact of the crash. "There's no time to explain! We need to grab the weapons from the trunk and get out of here as fast as we possibly can!"

He looked out the windshield and saw the hoard moving towards our destroyed vehicle. Dan swore and scrambled to break from his seatbelt just as I had. He saw Runo and Murucho hanging by their seatbelts and said, "Alice, help me get them down!" Dan reached for Runo, while I helped Murucho down. Runo fell from her seat and onto Dan. Murucho did the same to me.

They both came to when they fell, and I had wished they stayed out. Because they both saw what was coming for us and began to panic. Dan and I calmed them down and said our only hope was to get to the weapons in the trunk and run as fast as we could. We got ready to open the doors, and Dan counted, "1...2.…3.…GO!" We swung open the doors and climbed from the car. The monsters turned to see their next meal, and started after us.

Dan was the first to the trunk, and he opened the trunk as quickly as he could. He pulled out swords and staffs we had taken from Shun's dojo. Runo, Murucho, and I grabbed staffs, while Dan took a sword. We were now being surrounded, and slowly backed into a wall. They were enclosing us, and fear gripped my body so tightly that I couldn't fit back.

Runo and Murucho were the same way. Dan was the only one who appeared to have enough guts to take a swing or two at them. But he wouldn't get close enough to one to take a head off. I began to think this was the end of us, and that this was as far as we were going to make it. I also wondered if Shun was still alive. He probably wasn't.

The sound of metal cut through the air, and all of the monsters' heads fell from their bodies and onto the ground. Their bodies were the next thing to fall. We all looked around to see what had done this damage, and we looked up to see a shadowed figure jump down from one of the buildings and land in front of us. He held a long whip chain with a sharpened blade at the end, and blood dripped from the tip. When he took off his hood, I saw the familiar jet black hair. Murucho's voice rang out as he yelled, "Shun! You're alive!"

_Shun_

I didn't have time to celebrate with my friends. I had to get them out of the street before more of those things began to come this was. I looked around the street frantically, ignoring my friends' squeals, and saw an iron gate that was closing off the underground work tunnels. That was the safest place we could possibly be at the moment. I turned to my friends and pointed to the gate.

"Go in there! Now!" They saw where I was directing them, and ran in that direction. The gate had a loosely tied chain around it, and Murucho was the one to remove it and open it. It creaked as it swung open and we ran through it. I grabbed the chain after closing the gate again, and tied it up as best as I could. It wouldn't hold them off, but it would last long enough for us to lose them in the tunnels. I yelled at them, and my voiced echoed off the walls, "Don't stop running till I tell you to!"

They didn't protest. Once I saw they were growing tired, and I was too, I ordered them to stop. There was no use in wearing ourselves out by running when we were probably safe for the time being. They were all bent over panting, and I would have been as well, but needed to stay alert. In the short time we were separated, I had learned that those things could pop out of nowhere in the least unexpected places and timings. As soon as I had caught my breath, I asked them, "Is everyone ok?"

They all nodded their heads, that is, except for Runo. I looked over at her and asked her, "Runo, are you ok?" She looked back at me and then looked down at her wrist. She was covering it with her other hand, and when she removed it I saw a chunk of her skin missing.

Blood poured endlessly from her wound, and the skin around the damaged area was turning black as it began to die. I heard Alice gasp. "Oh my god. Runo!" The orange haired girl ran to her dying friend, and knelt down beside her. I knew that they deserved that time together, so I left them be. Soon, I would have to do the same thing to Runo as I had done to Julie and so many other like them.

_Dan_

My eyes were fixed on Runo's bleeding wrist. I wondered how long it would take for the virus to take her from us. Would it be as quick as Julie's infection? Or take longer? I thought of something I needed to do, and walked over to Shun, who was cleaning the blade from the metal whip chain in a small pool of water on the ground. It was difficult to see each other in the dark tunnels, but we could make out who was who. "Shun, I need to tell you something." He looked up at him, his amber eyes glowing in the darkness of the concrete tunnels. "What is it?" I looked back at Runo and knelt down next to Shun.

I whispered over to him, "Don't kill Runo." He was staring me right in the eyes, and what I saw wasn't the Shun I seemed to of known almost two days ago when we were over at his dojo celebrating his birthday. "Dan, she's going to die soon. And the minute after she dies, she's going to try and _eat_ _us._ It doesn't matter that we were her friends. All of that flies out of the window."

I stared down in the dark puddle that Shun was cleaning his blade in, and saw my reflection. Just barely though. I also saw Shun's. Even his composure was different. _What happened in those few hours after we left?_ Shun sighed, and I heard the fatigue in his voice. "Ok. I won't kill her. But we're leaving her here before she dies. So say whatever you want to before we leave. But if she comes after us, I won't hesitate to take her damn head off." This wasn't the Shun that was in the bathroom heaving after he had to kill Julie. I stared at him, then asked, "What did you see after we left?"

His eyes fixed on the still water, and he shuddered. "I saw a mother eating her own child. Neighbors attacking their neighbors. Friends killing their other friends. This world has lost all of its structure. There is no right or wrong anymore." He stopped talking and looked over at Runo once more. "She doesn't have much time. Go and say what you want to so we can leave." I stood up and looked at the raven haired ninja once more. My friend wasn't well in the head. But after what he had just told me he had seen, I wouldn't be either.

_Alice_

Murucho and I were by Runo's side the minute we saw she had been bitten during the mass chaos after the car flipped over. We watched as she turned from her lively looking self, into a pale corpse like being. I hated seeing her suffer, but I knew it would be short lived. Cause the minute after she died, Shun would be there ready with either the same sword he took Julie out with, or that chain whip.

Odds are his weapon of choice would be that sword. Dan walked over to the dying bluenette, and took her hand in his. He told her softly, "Shun said we aren't going to kill you. That we're going to leave you behind before you die. But he told me if you followed us he wouldn't think twice before taking you out. Please Runo, try your best to not follow us. I don't want to watch your head get cut off."

I was surprised that Shun agreed to let her slide. _Dan must of made a pretty convincing argument._ I saw Shun was kneeling down beside a puddle of water. Earlier I noticed he was cleaning off something in it, and figured it was one of the weapons he'd used to kill off those monsters that had surrounded us on the street after the car accident. I walked over to him, and he didn't look up at me. "Shun." His eyes darted up and found me, and I sat beside him, not caring if my dress got muddied up from the ground. It was the end of the world after all, so who would care? I told him sincerely, "I'm happy you're alive. I was really worried about you when we left the dojo."

He sighed, and sounded aggravated. I felt myself sadden and I told him, "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you. I'll go back over there with Runo." He grabbed my arm before I had the chance to get up, and I felt my face heat up. I was thankful that the tunnels were dark enough to hide it, but Shun may have been able to see it with his sharp vision. "You're not bothering me. I'm just tired, and it's been a long day. I'm ready to get to Murucho's and onto that jet and get as far away from this hellhole as I possibly can."

I think deep down inside, we all felt the same way. Murucho walked over to us and said, "Runo's fading fast. We better get going." Shun nodded his head and stood up and began walking down the tunnel. I stopped him, and he turned to face me. I asked him, "Aren't you going to say something to Runo before we go? You're the only one who hasn't spoken to her."

I heard the others walk up behind me, and they listened to what Shun would say. "What's there to say? Am I supposed to tell her I'm sorry she's going to die and come back as a mindless monster that only cares about finding an innocent person to eat? Or that if I see her near us that I'd take care of her so no one else gets bitten cause she's a threat? Listen, I don't have anything to say except we're wasting time. Now let's get moving."

I turned and looked back at the others to see their expressions. Dan didn't really have one, and Murucho looked more shocked than anything. I looked over them and back at Runo. She was still and lifeless, and I knew we had to leave then and there.

_Dan_

I was silent, for what seemed the first time in my life. I wasn't being loud and obnoxious like I was always told I was. I was just being _silent._ I just had nothing to say. I was happy that Shun didn't kill Runo, but I didn't like the fact that Shun was right about her turning into some mindless, flesh seeking freak of nature. Our footsteps echoed a little against the tunnel walls, and Shun would occasionally turn around and tell us to quiet our steps.

Then tunnels, had been abandoned for several years. But before they were left to be forgotten, they had been a means to go under buildings for plumbing and electrical repairs. But that was many, many years ago. Now, we were using them to walk right under hoards of zombies.

Shun stopped walking and asked Murucho, "How close do you think we are from your place?" The blonde shrugged his shoulders and asked, "Why?" Shun pointed up to the roof of the tunnel, and we saw a metal ladder leading up to a manhole cover. "Because we're getting out of here now and making a break for Murucho's." We all stared at our friend, and we were all thinking the same thing.

_He's going senile._ Murucho pointed up to the ceiling and said, "We don't know what's up there though! Or where we're even at!" My best friend looked at him and grinned; a senile and reckless grin. "Looks like we're about to find out." He then climbed up the metal ladder and pushed the cover up just enough to look out.

He lowered the cover back down and climbed down the ladder. Alice asked him, "What did you see?" He looked at us and said, "I saw Murucho's place. It's about two or three blocks away." We all had smiles go across our face. All the events that happened recently went away with the promise of getting on that jet and making our way to Moscow and our new lives. "But, we're going to have to cross a sea of zombies to get there." _There just went our spark of hope._

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><p>as tired as i am, i said i'd upload tonight and gosh darnit i did. -.- thanks again for all the reviews and blah blah blah. i am tired and going to sleep. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	5. Not Just Zombies At Our Throats

_Alice_

What were we going to do? It was impossible for us to go into the streets, but we couldn't stay in the tunnels because somewhere was what used to be Runo. We all turned to Shun for our answer, but I knew from looking in his eyes that he didn't know either. The four of us were stuck in these tunnels until we could find a way out. Shun looked down the tunnel and said to us, "Let's head this way. We might find another way out."

Down that tunnel was uncertainty, just like any corner you turned in this new world of ours. We walked for what seemed to be a few minutes, when we saw a circular light up ahead. Shun whispered back to us, "Don't make any noises, and stay close to me." I wanted to scream at him, _"Have you lost your damn mind! You're really thinking about going up there!"_

But I kept my lips shut as we slowly walked to the light. I thought back to any movies where they always told you don't go towards the light, but now we had thrown that out the window. All rules had been thrown away now, cause there was no one left to follow them. The light blinded us for a moment, and we were faced with a large hole. It was one of the kind that old factories used to dump their product waste into, but it had basically dried up from years of not being used.

But what was really shocking, was that it was filled to the brim with death. They weren't zombies though, they were just dead and decomposing bodies of people. Not a one of them was moving. We looked out over the hole filled with bodies, and my eyes caught something white moving on the other side. It was a person. I pointed over there and said, "Look!" The three boys followed where my finger pointed, and focused there eyes.

Murucho said in a hushed voice, "It's a person. A _living _person." I saw he was wearing a white jump suit and some kind of helmet, and looked like the kind of outfit that people wore when they were working in a possibly radioactive area. But this wasn't a radioactive area. _At least I don't think so. _Dan's voice startled me. "Maybe we can go to them for some help."

Shun hit his friend in the stomach and made him bend over to catch his breath. "Are you some kind of idiot? Watch." He directed us to look back at where we saw the white suited man, and he disappeared into a door. He then returned with another man in the same kind of suit, but they were carrying a body. They then threw the body into the pit with the others.

_What kind of place is this?_ Shun looked back at Dan and asked him, "Do you still want to go to them for help?" Dan stared at the body they had just tossed away like trash, and shook his head slowly. "No. Let's find another way out."

_Dan_

What were they doing in that little building? And why were there so many dead bodies? _What are they doing?_ Shun had begun to lead us down another tunnel, but my mind and eyes kept drifting down to the sickening site we had just left. I stopped walking, and stared at the place we just left. Shun realized I had stop following, and said, "Dan, is there a problem?" I didn't face him, cause I knew his eyes were narrowed on me. "It's just….What they are doing in that place in gnawing at me. It's killing me to not know."

I knew Shun was thinking I had lost my mind, but I still had my human nature. And human nature meant wanting to know the unknown. Even if it kills us. Shun told me coldly, "If you want to know so badly, then go back. Go and cross that pit of dead bodies and go up to that building as ask them what's going on. And if you can run fast enough, come back and tell us." I cringed at the harshness in Shun's voice. I understood he wanted to survive. That he wanted all of us to survive. But he also knew that to survive, you had to throw away any emotions that may get in your way. _Considering he had any to get in his way from the start._

I retorted back at him, "I'm not that stupid, Shun. I was just curious. No need to bite my head off just cause I wanted to know something." Shun's eyes flashed, and I then found myself pinned against the cold concrete of the tunnel. His voice was sharp and tipped with poison, "This world is rotting away! There's nothing else to know about this! Some sick son of a bitch let this virus out on innocent people and now we're fighting for our lives! That's all there is to know! So get rid of your curiosity."

Alice then stepped between us and told Shun, "Put him down! He didn't do anything wrong!" His eyes narrowed at her, and I dropped down to the ground. I stared at him and asked, "How did you know that somebody let a virus out?" All we had been told was that the people that were bitten were infected with something that was virus-like in the way it attacked the body.

But we hadn't been told that a person let it out. Murucho and Alice looked at each other and seemed to be wondering the same thing. Shun didn't want to explain what he had said, I could see that plainly. It was my turn to bombard him with questions and such.

"Shun, how do you know?" He turned from us and stared into the tunnel in front of him. Alice walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off. She retreated her hand to her chest, and walked back over to Murucho. I was growing aggravated. "Shun, spill it." He turned his head a little and looked at me. All I could make out was his eyes. "You have no clue what they're doing in that building."

_Shun_

I wasn't paying attention to my words when I was yelling at Dan, and now I was paying for it. "Shun, just tell us." They wouldn't shut up till I told them how I knew. "Ok. So you want to know? Fine. This is how I know."

_*Flashback*_

_The others had just taken off in the car towards the city, and I was being chased by hundreds and drooling monsters that all wanted only one thing; my flesh. I had killed a few, but couldn't stop for long before they started to catch up. If I did stop, they would easily overtake me. Instead of following the way the others went, I took another path. True it was longer, and odds were I wouldn't make it to Murucho's in time to get on the jet with them. I didn't care, as long as they made it safely to it and to Moscow. I took a turn through a small forest, and I realized I wasn't being chased any longer. I didn't want to take a chance, and kept going. _

_After being hit by tree limbs and branches, I came to a stop in a clearing. There was a small building, and what seemed to be some kind of pit behind it. I thought I had seen people inside, and ran up to it for help and a chance to get away from any zombies that may have been following me. When I walked up to the door, it was cracked slightly, and I pushed it open. The room was pretty empty, and the only thing there was a steel door. "Hello?" Nobody answered, and I moved towards the door. I placed my hand on the handle, and pushed down._

_ It was unlocked. The lights were off, but I could make out a staircase going down in front of me. When I strained my eyes, I made out a low, flashing light at the base of the stairs. One step at a time, I began to walk down the steps to see if there was anyone there. Or if it was just an abandoned building with a TV left running. I was now at the bottom the steps, and I peered around the corner. There were several men wearing white lab coats, staring at a large computer screen with the image of a brain on it__._

_ I raised an eyebrow and heard one of the men say, "We were wrong about the virus. We should of never released it into the public until we perfected the antidote. What were we thinking?" I was now leaning closer into the room. __**They created the virus that's turning all those people into monsters?**__ Another one of the men said, "All we can do is hope that we find the cure by experimenting on uninfected people. I say we go into the city and hunt down survivors and bring them back here." I didn't stay around to hear the rest of what they were saying, because I was running up the stairs and burst through the door and out of the building. _

_**If they see me, they might try and turn me into one of their guinea pigs! Gotta keep running. Gotta keep running. Nowhere is safe.**__ That was when I headed towards the city, and began jumping from the roof tops, and saw Dan and the others being surrounded. My rage built up. Not at the monsters that were attacking my friends, but the people that caused all of this chaos. I grabbed the chain whip I had swiped from the dojo, and leaped down from the roof of a building. _

_*End Flashback*_

My friends looked at me with horror in my eyes at the thought that a group of people could make something so horrible like this. Alice said with shock in her voice, "Why would they make something like that? What was making it going to accomplish?" I wished I could tell her what they created it for, but I didn't stay around long enough to ask them. Murucho had come up with something logical and said, "Maybe they were making some kind of biological weapon." It made sense.

There were many theories we could think up, but in the end, they wouldn't be of any use to us other than to put an ease to our thoughts. Dan's hands were clenched into fists, and he burst out. "I hope their creations come for them and rip them to shreds! To make them suffer like everyone else has!" The reality of Runo's death was finally hitting him now that he knew now that cause of somebody's carelessness, she was continued his rant. "I say we go back there and take them out!"

He wasn't thinking logically, and we needed to calm him down before he did something stupid. Alice approached Dan and tried to touch him, but he turned around and caused he to fall over. I yelled at him, "Dan! Calm down!" He turned and looked at me first, then Murucho, and lastly Alice. His shoulders slouched and he lowered his head in submission. "I'm sorry….." Murucho was telling Dan how it was ok, and I went over to Alice to help her up. "You ok?" She nodded her head and straightened the skirt of her dress.

She thanked me and started to move away from me. I ran in front of her and said, "I'm sorry if I made you mad when I brushed you off earlier. I was still angry at what I saw at that building, and I didn't really want to talk about what I saw. But I knew Dan wouldn't quit bugging me about it." She smiled and nodded her head, but walked around me and over where Dan and Murucho were standing. I sighed and said, "How about we rest here for a while?" They all looked at each other, and nodded their heads.

We all needed a break from walking and fearing for our lives. We were all gathered around in the tunnel, sitting on the floor, and staying close to each other to keep warm. Alice's soft voice spoke, "Remember when we used to sit outside and look at the stars when we were fighting Naga?"

I did. On some nights, we would lay outside on blankets and look up at the stars. And when it got cool, some of us would get closer to others. Dan would get close to Runo. Murucho and Julie would stay away from each other, but close enough to feed off of the other's warmth. Alice and I never even attempted to get close; except for one time. I had inched a little closer to her each night, and she never noticed.

But if she did, she never said anything. The night when I was only a few inches from her, our hands had linked into each others. It was the best night I had ever had. The time we spent down in that tunnel, we just reminisced on our past adventures.

Not caring that some group of people was taking survivors to be used for experiments, or that we may not of been safe in that tunnel. Before we all fell asleep, Alice laid her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. I smiled, and allowed myself to rest for the first time since all of this happened.

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><p>bleh. i would of had this done hours ago, but i got stuck having to leave my house the minute i was getting into my writing mood. oh well. i may upload later in a few hours, but i had spent a lot of my creative juices at the moment. well, that's it. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	6. Ripped Away

_Shun_

I should of never allowed myself to fall asleep, because then we wouldn't be woken by the shrieks of a short blonde. They bounced back and forth off the walls of the tunnels, and woke us up. My eyes were the first to open, and my body was the first to stand. Dan and Alice came up shortly after me; all of us looking around for one of our members. He was gone, but we could see a pool of blood trailing down the tunnel. Dan ran in the direction. I yelled at him, "Dan! Get back here!"

I was now running after him. Whatever drug Murucho off, could do the same thing to him. He froze at the entrance to another tunnel; paralyzed with fear. I caught up to him, and said, "Dan, what the-oh my god." Red eyes looked up at us, blood caking its face and matting the long blue hair. 'Runo' had been the thing that came and took Murucho from us. And now she had him pinned on the ground, and his abdomen torn open and its contents exposed to the world.

Murucho was still alive, cause I could hear his weak sobs and cries of pain. Alice had almost caught up with us, but I stopped her from coming any closer. I was surprised that our old friend hadn't lunged for us. Then again, she was gorging herself on Murucho. Alice didn't come any closer, and I felt my belt loops for either my sword or whip chain. I had left both back at where we had fallen asleep.

I whispered to Alice, careful to not let Runo hear me, Alice, bring me my sword and chain. Now!" She didn't argue and ran back down the tunnel. I turned back to Dan, and saw tears streaking down his face. Once the thing was done eating, she'd move on to us as the next course. Alice returned, and handed me my weapons. Dan saw me ready the sword, then pushed me against the wall. "You said you wouldn't kill her you bastard!" I grabbed his shoulders and slammed him to the ground.

"I said I wouldn't kill her, but if I saw her again I'd take her head off. I'm keeping that promise, Dan. Hell, she's _eating_ Murucho alive!" I jumped up before he had a chance to do anything, and returned back into the tunnel; holding the sword like a baseball batter did a bat. And Runo's head would be the ball. I ran at her, then felt something attack my ankles, and I fell onto the ground and had the wind knocked out of me.

The zombie Runo was still eating, and not paying any mind to me. I whipped around and saw Dan had tackled my legs to stop me from killing Runo. He was crying, and started begging me, "Don't kill her! Don't kill her!" I kicked my ankles out of his grip, and looked around for my sword that I dropped when I fell. It was just a few feet in front of me, and I scrambled for it.

For Runo would be done feasting soon. I grabbed the handle and was ready to try this again. I was about to swing, and Dan jumped in front of me and I almost took his head off instead. I stopped a few inches from his neck, and I saw the fear and his own life flash before his eyes. I was scared as well, but also angry that my friend wouldn't let me do what was best for all of us.

I growled and told him, "Get out of the fucking way, Dan!" Dan tightly closed his eyes and shook his head. "No! I won't let you kill her! You'll have to kill me first!" I wasn't about to kill him unless he was bitten himself. And even if he was bitten, I didn't think I'd have it in me to do it. We both stood there, holding each others gaze. It was obvious that he wasn't going to move. I tightened my grip on the handle of the sword, and lifted it up. Dan's eyes flashed horror, and they then closed to brace himself.

I then stuck the sword into the top of Runo's head right before she was about to bite Dan on his neck. I yanked the blade out and watched her fall down behind him. Dan was still bracing for the cold steel to slice him, and he was shaking in fear and anticipation. After a few more seconds, he opened one eye, then the other. Soon, he started to loosen up, and turned around behind him and saw Runo's body twisted from how it fell. I told him, "Now was that so hard?" He stared at the body, then turned back around and hit me in the face. The blow was hard enough to knock me back.

"You son of a bitch! Do you think that was funny!" I rubbed my jaw where he hit me and told him, "That actually kind of hurt. Dan, I had to do what I had to. She was about to bite you." Dan eyes now had tears flowing from them, and his fists were clenched as tightly as they could be. I watched as he then stomped off into the tunnels. Alice ran over to me and said, "Shun! Aren't you going to stop him?"

I knew my friend wasn't going to run off too far, so I wasn't worried. "No. Let him cool down. He'll be back. Besides, if there were anymore of those things here, they would have been here a long time ago for us." We then looked at Murucho's body that was laying next to Runo's.

Alice asked me, "What are we going to do with Murucho's?" I looked at him. His eyes were still open, and his mouth was still in the same position it was as when he was screaming for mercy that would never come to him. "Nothing. There's not enough left of him to come back. He'll only lay there and decompose." I sighed and bent over to close the blonde's eyes. _And then there were three…._

_Dan_

I wasn't just mad, I was furious. Not only did Shun kill Runo, I thought he was about to take me with her. _Yeah, she was about to bite me, but did Shun ever think that maybe I wanted to be bitten? _I noticed they didn't follow me after I ran off. _They know I'll come back._ I wasn't about to go back that minute though. I didn't want to get lost in the tunnels, so I found a rock and marked my way throughout them.

The rock left a visible white line that I could follow. When the rock finally wore down, I knew I had to go back. But before I did, I noticed something. Another manhole cover. I mimicked what Shun did, and climbed up the ladder and quietly pushed the lid up. I was right in front of Murucho's place. It was nothing more than a clear shot of about ten feet. _And not a zombie in sight._ I grinned at my discovery, and lower the manhole cover back down and jumped from the ladder. All I had to do was run back to Shun and Alice and tell them what I found. I looked to the wall, and followed my trail that I marked to find my way back.

When I was back at the tunnel they were in, I ran towards then yelling, "Guys! I found Murucho's place! And there are no zombies around it!" They looked at each other as if I had lost my mind or was playing a trick on them. I pointed down the tunnel I had come from and said, "I found another manhole cover and it's right in front of Murucho's place! All we have to do is run a few feet and bam! Home free!"

Alice stepped closer to me and asked, "Can you show us, Dan?" I nodded my head and motioned for them to follow me. At that moment, Runo and Murucho had left my mind. The thought of freedom and safety had replaced it. We ran to the manhole cover, following my little white line, and stopped when I saw the ladder. "See! It's right there! If you don't believe me about the location, then look for yourself!"

Shun raised an eyebrow, and I saw a bruise developing where I had hit him. I then realized my hand was sore from the impact. He climbed the ladder and did the same thing I did. He lowered the cover back down and said, "He's right. Murucho's place is right in front of us." I grinned in victory. I was riding a personal high that I never wanted to come down from. Shun leaped back down to the ground and said, "Ok. I'll go first, then Alice, then Dan." I stopped grinning and turned to Shun.

"Why do I have to be last! It's cause you like her more! Isn't it!" He glared at me, and I saw a blush across his face. "No, that's not the reason at all. Your much stronger than Alice, as am I. So I lead us in in case any zombies attack us, and if I miss any, you take them out from behind. And this way Alice doesn't have to be anywhere near them." I narrowed my eyes at him and shook my head. _Uh-huh. Just admit you like her already._ We got in the order Shun had said; Shun first, Alice in the middle, and me at the end.

_Shun_

We had to work quick. Just cause there weren't any zombies out there at the moment, didn't mean there wouldn't be later. _Or some inside for that fact._ I placed my hand on the manhole cover, ready to push it up and slide it out of the way for us to make a break for it. It was just like when I was opening the gate for the car full of my friends to escape. But we had lost two more since then.

I didn't want to lose anyone else. I _wasn't _going to lose anyone else. These were the two people I cared the most for in the world. I asked them if they were ready, and they nodded. I removed the cover, and light flooded into the dark tunnels. My eyes took a moment to adjust, and I took off the minute they did. Alice was right behind me, and so was Dan. Cars were on fire and wrecked all in the streets, and papers flew past us in the wind. But there were no zombies at the moment. We got up to the doors, and I tried to open them.

"Dammit! They're locked!" I heard moans approaching in the distance, and had to hurry to find a way to get inside. Dan was complaining and tried the door himself. "No! They can't be locked! They can't be!" I turned and saw a large hoard stumbling our way. I went into the fight or flight mode and began kicking the door with my foot. It wasn't budging, and one kick sent a bolt of pain through my body. I clutched my hurt leg and cringed at the pain. It was like nothing I had felt before, and never wanted to feel again. The zombies were closer now, and it was safe to say the door wasn't opening.

Dan was clawing at it like a dog locked out in the rain, and Alice was yelling for somebody to open it. All while I was bent over watching the hoard move in for a little snack. That was it. I pulled out my whip chain, being careful to not put too much weight on my hurt leg, and took the head off the first one that came within striking distance. I was taking off heads left and right, but there were just too many of them. I was about to accept my death, when the door behind us swung open and three sets of hands reached out and grabbed us my our arms or shirts. Once we were inside, the door closed again and locked.

The whole room was pitch black. I fell on the ground, and cried out as I landed on my hurt leg. I heard Alice call out, "Shun! Dan! Where are you?" I looked around for her, and then the lights flipped on and blinded me. Once they came back into focus, Dan and Alice were also on the floor, and we were surrounded by Kato and other members of Murucho's staff. He walked up to us and asked, "Have any of you been bitten?"

We all looked at each other and shook our heads. It was a miracle that we hadn't been though. Murucho's parents then ran into the room, a look of hope on their faces. His mother asked us, "My Murucho. Is he alive?" I looked over at Dan and Alice, and knew we had the same facial expression on. I told her, "No. He was eaten by one of those things. There wasn't even enough left of him to come back." She s

tarted sobbing hysterically, and her husband tried to comfort her. I heard him whisper to her, "I know you hoped he was alive. I did too. But the odds were against him, honey." _Hope. That's all anyone has now._

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><p>ok, that's probably all for today. I'm going to try and finish up tomorrow for Halloween. so, wish me luck on that. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	7. Whispers In The Dark

_Shun_

There were two grieving parents, my hurt leg, and hundreds or maybe thousands of zombies that know there was food inside this building. If we weren't in deep trouble, then I had to redefine the way I looked at the world. I was still on the floor, and one of the maids walked over to me and moved my leg. I took in a sharp breath as she did, and clenched my teeth. She apologized for causing the pain.

"Looks like you just have a badly pulled muscle. It should start feeling better in a few days if you try and stay off of it." _A few days? We don't have that kind of time._ I was rubbing my leg when Dan asked them, "Is the jet still here?" Kato stepped forward from the group and said, "Yes, it's up on the landing pad on the roof. But it was under maintenance when all this started."

The maid brought me a small bag of ice, and I placed it on my leg and asked, "Why can't you finish the maintenance, Kato? We've all seen you work on the jet before." The maid who brought me the ice said sadly, "When the zombies first appeared, some of them had gotten in the building. They were near the top of the roof, and we were able to lock them up there. We've slowly started checking each floor and taking them out floor by floor. It's a slow process, but we should get rid of them all eventually."

_They actually trapped those monsters in the building!_ "How stupid can you all be! If those things break free then we're all fucked! Cause we sure as hell cant go out there!" I pointed towards the door where thousands of flesh eating beasts were trying to get in. I tried to stand up, but started to fall back down when I felt a set of hands catch me. It was Alice. She helped steady me, and I placed all my weight on my good leg.

"Thanks." She nodded her head, her hands still holding me. Alice looked down and saw she was still touching me, then blushed and took them away quickly. I knew I had a blush on my face as well. Kato was looking towards us, then said, "When we get rid of the last of the zombies, I'll head up to the jet and finish the repairs. In the mean time, how about you three rest up. I'm sure you'd all enjoy some food, showers, and a warm place to sleep."

The shower he mentioned sounded great at the time. We were all covered in dirt, sweat, and zombie blood. Dan immediately perked up and said, "You guys have food! Alright! Show me the kitchen!" _Well, we did have food….._ Alice said softly, "I think I'm going to take a shower." I added in, "Yeah. I think I am as well." The maid who brought me the ice, walked with me to one of the bathrooms in case my leg gave out again. When I was in front of the door I told her, "I think I've got it from here." She bowed and left back the way we had came. _Hard to believe that the world is ending and they're still doing their jobs. That's loyalty._

I stepped in the bathroom, and turned the water as hot as I could get it. The steam didn't take long to start up, and I stepped into the hot water. The heat of the water was scolding, but it was just the way I liked it. There was so much steam, that you couldn't even see your hand in front of your own face. Once I had washed my hair, I turned the water off and stepped out. Sitting on the counter next to the sink, were some fresh, clean clothes.

_I guess one of the maids brought them in here. _They were almost a perfect fit. Just a little baggy though. I wiped away the condensation on the mirror and saw myself. My hair had grown longer, and I rummaged through the drawers for a pair of scissors. I found a small pair, and grabbed the wet locks and cut my hair just a bit above my shoulders. The black snips of hair had fallen into the sink, and I turned the water on and they washed away down the drain.

Feeling much better now, I sighed and opened the door. Compared to the humidity in the bathroom, the cool air of the hallway felt good as well. The steam that was left over from my shower rolled out of the open door and crawled past my ankles. I limped back into the main hall where the others were. They saw me and Kato told me, "You're just in time. We were just about to go and eat." My stomach growled at the thought of food. We had nothing to eat cause all of the supplies we packed into the car had been left there.

I took a seat, and Alice took one next to me. Her hair was still damp, and I figured she had just finished her shower as well. They had shrunk the portions to conserve the food as long as they possibly could. We didn't care. Food was food. It meant more energy to fight. In no time we had all finished our meals, and with full stomachs we were growing tired. With the endless rooms, we had a pick of any that weren't taken by the surviving staff. I took one that was close to the end of the hall, and opened the door. I would of normally checked to room for an unwelcome guest, but was too tired.

I limped to the bed, and flopped down and climbed under the soft blankets. It was like the first time I had felt luxury again. These kind of things, showers and food and beds, people took advantage of and didn't think much of it. But when you didn't have any of it, it was something you had to be thankful for. The mansion was quiet, except for the moans of hungry monsters outside.

They sounded like gusts of wind, but were just trying to break in. It was an eerie sound, and I began wondering how many people we knew were out there at the moment. I sighed. It didn't matter whether we knew any of them or not, cause they no longer knew us personally. Only as food. I was beginning to fall asleep, despite the sounds outside. I heard my door open, but I didn't get up. I felt something crawl into the queen sized bed and lay down next to me. That was when I opened my eyes, and saw Alice's back facing me. I blinked a few times, thinking I may have been having a dream.

But she was real. I sat up a little and said, "Alice? What are you doing in here?" She turned around quickly and seemed shocked that I was awake. "I uh, uh….I was scared ok. I heard those things outside and couldn't bare to be alone. I wanted to feel safe, and you're the only person I feel safe around, Shun." The moonlight filtering in from the window revealed she was blushing, and that she seemed ashamed to be scared. I felt a blush cross my face as I took her chin in my hand and brought her gaze up to mine.

"It may not look like it, but I'm just as scared. Everyone is scared, and all we can try and do is survive." It was true that everybody was scared, and if you weren't then you had some serious issues. I found myself getting lost in her brown eyes, and we were leaning in closer to each other. "Alice, I-I th-think-" I pulled away before our lips met, and didn't look at her. I heard her say, "Oh. I'm sorry. I'll go back to my room." I didn't stop her, even though I wanted to. My heart was racing. _No, you can't be falling for her._ We couldn't be together. Not yet at least. Once we were safe, then we might be able to. But not while we were running for out lives around every corner.

_Alice_

I felt foolish as I walked back to my room. _Like there is even a chance for us._ I wasn't lying when I said I was scared, that part was true. And so was the part about me feeling safe around Shun. But what I didn't tell him was that I just wanted to be next to him.

I felt just so foolish, and wished I could disappear. I didn't even think I could face him tomorrow morning. I was almost to my room, and I stopped at a door that lead to a staircase. I saw it had been locked, and figured that was where the zombies started. I kicked the door. It felt good to let my rage out, even if it wasn't doing much damage. I stopped when I thought I heard breathing. I was frozen.

_Quit freaking out, Alice. They can't break through that door._ A hand burst through the wood and grabbed at the air for me. The monster roared, and I screamed. I ran down the hallway, passing my room, and found myself faced with the end of the hall. I turned and saw four of them stumbling my way.

I felt tears roll down my face. I had never been overtaken by so much fear. I did the only thing I could think of; I screamed again. "Shun! Help me!" I hadn't even noticed Dan and other poking their heads out of their doors and seeing the zombies heading my way.

I was crying hysterically now, and leaned against the wall and slid down it. I had no chance. I couldn't scream from my sobs. All I got out was whispers. "Shun. Please help me." My eyes remained fixed on the sets of teeth coming my way. _Help me…._

_Shun_

"Shun! Help me!" I shot out of my slumber and frantically looked around. I had woken from a dream where the zombies were after Alice, and now I had thought I heard her voice screaming for me. I threw the covers off of me, and limped over to the door, grabbing my whip chain and sword on the way out. I was halfway running and limping at the same time, when Dan turned the corner and saw me. "Shun! Dude! You have to hurry! Those things got loose from the floor above and have Alice cornered! I couldn't find anything to hit them on the head with! Quick! Hurry!" _It wasn't just a dream…._

I was shaking with the thought of those things ripping into Alice like Runo did to Murucho. Dan's hand then slapped me in the face. "Did you fucking hear me, Kazami! You have to help Alice!" I shook my head, and ran in the direction of her room. My heart was racing faster than when we almost kissed. I didn't want to lose her. I couldn't bare to lose her. I was completely ignoring my hurting leg, and was running full sprint now.

It was amazing what the human body could do when something was on the line. I saw them at the end of the hallway, circled around what I knew was Alice. I heard her scream again. It sent chills up and down my body. "Alice!" The four monsters turned and found me, and bared their teeth. They didn't care about Alice anymore. They had found another meal. I held on tightly to the whip chain.

I used all my force and swung the chain. The chain sliced through the tops of their skulls, and the sharpened blade took everyone of them off. They fell to the ground in unison, but only one was still moving. I quickly took my sword, and looked down at the one living monster.

I glared at him and said, "Burn in hell." I swung the blade down and took off its head like a guillotine. He wasn't moving anymore. I then came back to Earth, and heard Alice's crying. I saw her curled into a fetal position, and her face was buried into her knees. "Alice!" I dropped the sword and ran over to her. She didn't know it was me, and when I placed a hand on her arm, she screamed and started swatting her hands at me in self-defense.

I grabbed her hands and tried to make her look at me. "Alice! It's me! Calm down! They're gone!" She was still crying, and I felt something think and warm go down my hand. I looked to see what it was, and saw a large bite mark with blood trickling out of it and onto my hand.

"They…They bit you…." The sick feeling I got after taking out Julie returned, and my eyes began to swell with oncoming tears. I began shaking my head and said, "No! This can't happen! It just can't!" Just like Alice, there were tears flooding from my eyes.

I then knew why Dan was so emotional when Runo was bitten, and wondered how he was still able to go on. At this moment, the only two things in my world was me and Alice. I didn't care that the staff and my friends were looking at us crying, or the bodies that were laying in the hallway. I had stopped crying, and felt something flip on in me. I said under my breath, "I'll kill every last one of them."

* * *

><p>i may not finish this thing today. i forgot i have a halloween party tonight, and won't be back till late late late. : it may be finished up tomorrow. sigh. i was really hoping to finsih this up tonight. oh well. HAPPY HALLOWEEN! ~Copperpelt~


	8. New Hope

_Shun_

What could I do? _There's nothing I can do…._ Alice was gripping her bitten hand, and crying as she looked at it in horror. I looked on with her. There were so many regrets running through my mind. _I didn't admit I care for her. I didn't kiss her…I didn't keep her safe._ That one stung the most. After she told me she felt safe around me, and I couldn't even protect her. I heard Dan tell the others behind me, "Ok. Everyone return to their rooms. Please just give us some time with our friend."

Their footsteps faded into the hallway, and doors slammed closed. I felt Dan put his hand on my shoulder, and I looked at it. I knew what he wanted to tell me. He wanted to say, _"How's it feel to know that the only person you care about more than anyone in the world, is going to die? Not too fun, is it?"_ Alice's sobs had started to disappear, and I thought she may be accepting what had happened. She said, "My bite…..It's not bleeding anymore." Dan and I both looked at it. Sure enough, the wound had ceased pouring blood, and seemed to be healing. So far, anyone we had seen with a bite, couldn't stop bleeding and heal.

Dan grabbed her hand and said, "Maybe they didn't bite you hard enough to infect you." Dan was trying to lighten things up. Everyone knew, that once you had been bitten, no matter the severity of the bite, you turned. It was just the way this plague worked. I wrapped my arms around Alice and pulled her against me. She stopped shaking when I did. I then asked Dan, "Could you leave me and her alone for a few minutes?"

He sighed and told me, "Yeah. No problem, buddy. Do whatever you got to." I couldn't tell if he thought I was about to put Alice out of her misery, or just talk with her. Either way, I was happy he left. I didn't know what I was about to do, I just wanted to spend some time with just me and her. She asked me weakly, "What are you going to do?" I could see she was tired, but she still had her normal skin color. She wasn't pale. Most who had been infected this long had started falling victim to the virus.

I told her gently, "I'm not going to do anything. I just wanted to apologize for what happened earlier. You know, between me and you." I saw a tear roll down her cheek, and I wiped it away with my thumb. She told me, "It was my fault. I shouldn't of gone into your room. If I hadn't, then I wouldn't of been chased by those monsters and bitten." It was true. I looked at her and said, "And if I had only kissed you instead of chickening out, then you may of still been in my room safe in my arms."

She turned and faced me, and smiled. There I was again, getting lost in her eyes like I was before. We were leaning into each other like we were back in my room, but this time our lips did meet. I thought I felt my heart skip a beat. Or maybe it was the pain of the fact that this may be the first, and last time we ever kissed. I was enjoying every minute of it though. When we did finally break, we both had to catch our breaths. I heard clapping down the hall, and Dan walked forward, smiling.

It was a sad smile though. He told me, "I knew you two liked each other." He walked over to us, and sat down on the floor. "So, how much longer do you think till- Well, you know…" I wasn't sure. She wasn't showing any symptoms of the virus. I asked her, "How are you feeling, Alice?" She blinked her eyes and looked down at her bite. "I'm feeling…..Fine." Dan and I both looked at her. Was she lying? Does she just not want us to worry about her? _Kind of late for that._ I held her face in my hand and asked her, "You feel _fine_?" She nodded her head. Now that I thought about it, she wasn't warm at all when I touched her face or kissed her. Dan then said, "Maybe it's just taking longer on her." I wished it would take forever.

Her bite was starting to scab over, and was no longer bleeding at all. I then had a thought. "What if she's immune?" Dan stared at me, and raised an eyebrow. "Then she's the only person on the planet that won't turn when she's bitten. Wow, you're pretty lucky if you are, Alice." Dan stood up and stretched. "Well, you can stay up all night to prove your theory right. I'm going to bed…And, Alice….I really do hope you don't turn…I don't want to watch anyone else die."

He walked off back to his room, and left us in the dark hallway. I turned my attention back to her and said, "Come on. Let's go back to my room." I stood up, and my leg hurt worse than when I went to bed. _It's from when I ran to help Alice. I shouldn't of put that much tension on it._ I bent over and clutched my leg. No matter what I did, it still hurt. Alice put my arm over her shoulder to give me balance.

"Here. I'll help you back to your room." I smiled. My leg still hurt, but with Alice taking most of the weight off, it wasn't as bad. We were almost back t my room, but she stopped at the door that the zombies came through and attacked her. I told her, "If there were anymore, they would of come out by now." She nodded her head and said, "I know. Let's get away from it just in case."

She opened the door to my room, and helped me over to my bed. I sat down and massaged my leg. "Are you sure you feel fine? You don't feel sick at all?" She walked over to the window and looked down. There must have been tons of living dead down on the ground.

"Other than sick with worry that I may turn into one of those bastards." I had that same sickness flowing through me. Last thing in the world I wanted to do was either kill her or Dan. She was now standing in front of me, and I looked up at her. I wrapped my arms around her waist, and pulled her onto the bed and placed my lips on hers. I rolled her over on her back, and propped myself up on my elbow; our kiss still going strong. We were going to live to enjoy that night.

_Dan_

I woke up later that night after returning to my room. Knowing now that those things could bust through the doors, I wasn't sleeping easy. I popped my head out of my door, and looked down at the end of the hall where Shun and Alice were at once. They were gone now. There was no telling where they had run off to. But wherever they did go, I knew they were happy. _It took Shun long enough to finally admit it._

I stepped out of my room and walked down the hall. Alice's room was empty. When I went to the other end of the hall where Shun's was, the door was open halfway. I peered inside and saw the two of them holding each other and sleeping. _Shun better hope like hell that she doesn't turn. Or else she's going to have breakfast in bed._ I reached for the knob and closed the door.

I returned back to my room, and closed my door. I wished that Runo was still with me, so that way I'd have somebody to curl up with like Shun did. I didn't find it fair, that Shun had somebody to be with him, while mine was eating one of my friends. I sighed. My eyes closed, and it seemed like as soon as they did, the sun shone through my window and woke me up. It was one of those nights were it seemed like you just closed your eyes, and it was over. No dreams. No full rest.

No nothing. A faint aroma drifted into my room. _Kato's cooking something._ I followed my sense of smell down to the dining room. Everyone had a plate set out; even Alice. Kato saw me and asked, "Where's Shun and Alice?" I saw down and started eating the food on my plate.

"Last time I saw them they had moved from the hallway to Shun's room and were asleep. She looked normal though. Not all drooling and dead." Everyone looked at each other, and ate their food. All while Alice's and Shun's grew cold. _Please let them both be alive._

_Shun_

I stretched out a hand and felt Alice's body next to me. I opened my eyes and looked at her, then smiled. I took her shoulder in my hand and shook her lightly. "Alice? You awake?" She rolled over to face me. It was time to see if she was still herself. When I saw her, she looked the same as last night. Her skin was its same warm color, she had no fever, and she smiled back at me.

I felt my heart jump and relief flooded me. I embraced her with a hug. "Thank God you're not one of them." I could of cried if I hadn't done enough last night. _Alice has to be immune. It's the only thing that makes sense. But why is she the only one?_ "Shun, can we just stay up here all day?" I blinked. "Well, yeah. But the others need to know you're not a zombie and that you didn't eat me."

She smiled and took my hand in hers and said, "I'll go with you if they want proof." I smiled and squeezed her hand. "Sounds good to me." My leg wasn't hurting as bad as last night, and I was able to walk on my own. The smell of breakfast foods flooded the halls the closer we got to the dining room.

When we walked through the door, every eye in the room was on us. As if they had seen two ghosts. Dan shot up from his chair and screamed, "You're both alive!" He ran up to us, and gave both of us a hug. I squirmed my way out of Dan's hug, and let him finish hugging Alice. She patted him on the head and said, "Yes, Dan. We're alive. You can let me go now." He released her and laughed.

I walked over to him and said, "We just came down here to tell you guys that everything's ok and not to worry. For some reason, Alice is immune to this virus." They all looked at her, wondering the same thing as I. _How did she get immune?_ She told them, "We're both pretty tired from all that chaos last night. So we're going to go and catch a few more hours of sleep. Kay?"

Kato walked over to us and said, "Do you want me to bring your food up to you?" We looked at each other and I told them, "Sure. Why not? Just set it on the nightstand if we're still asleep." He bowed, and I took Alice's hand in mine and walked back to the room. I knew what I had agreed to. Even when I refused to fall for her until we were safe, I had broken my promise. I was falling, and falling hard at that. Now that meant if she ever did turn into a monster, I would never have it in me to kill her. I'd rather have her turn me into one, or take my own life.

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><p>well, i forced out another chapter. now i must bid the good-night. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	9. Crashed

_Alice_

Shun and some of the younger staff members had gone up into the locked off area of the building to start taking out the trapped zombies. I was worried. They were probably largely outnumbered up there. I looked down at my hand, and saw little pink marks from where the zombie bit my hand last night. Why was I the only one immune? Kato placed a plate of food in front of me and I thanked him. He smiled and took somebody else their plate. Dan wasn't with Shun and the rest of the zombie killing team.

Shun had told him that he didn't want him coming with them. Dan had protested and said he had just as much right to go up there with them and kill them, but Shun still refused. When Dan had asked him why, Shun told him it was because Dan had no experience and would only bring them down.

I saw in his eyes that it was a lie. I knew why Shun didn't want his best friend to go into the battle zone; he didn't want anything to happen to him. Dan took the bait, hook line and sinker though, and walked around for a few hours ranting about what Shun had told him. I wanted to tell him the truth, but knew that he would do something stupid like run up there with them and get bitten by one of the zombies they may of missed.

Murucho's parents didn't touch the food that Kato placed in front of them. In fact, they hadn't eaten anything since we told them about their only son being eaten alive. I would eat after hearing that either. I heard Kato tell them, "You need to try and eat to keep your strength up." The wife, didn't face him but said almost inaudibly, "What do I have to stay strong for?"

We saw this everywhere now; people were giving up on all of their hope. The last thing we had, and we were giving up on it as well. I was wondering how Shun and his team were doing upstairs. We're they taking them out easily? Or were they being run into a corner and fighting them off as we were speaking? I needed to stop thinking about what was happening above our heads, and focus on the here and now. Dan was leaning back in his chair and propping his feet up on the table.

I narrowed my eyes at him and said, "Get your feet off the table, Dan. We eat here." He looked over at me and reluctantly did as I asked him. I heard him mummer, "Why do we have to have table manners when the world has gone to hell?"

I sighed. Seemed like everyone around us was starting to develop a negative attitude and outlook on everything around us. There wasn't much to stay positive about, but we had to try. It would make things a little bit easier. We all turned to the hallway at the sound of footsteps. Shun and the people he had brought with them to clean out the upper floors, walked in.

They were splattered with blood, and Shun had a gash on his arm. "Oh my god! What happened?" Shun narrowed his eyes and looked at the youngest of the staff members and said, "Somebody thought I was a fucking zombie and almost took off my god damn arm!"

He flinched at every word Shun yelled at him, almost like they were hurting him. Blood was still pouring from the gash, and told Kato, "Go and find us some towels or something to wrap around his arm. And some antiseptics if possible." He nodded and ran off into another room to look for what I requested. I held Shun's arm and assessed the damage. "It doesn't seem too deep. It should heal on its own." Shun glared back at the person that had caused the wound and said, "Lucky me he didn't swing too hard."

The young man looked guilty and apologized again. Kato came back and handed me a white towel and a bottle of iodine. "This'll have to do for now. Shun, this is going to sting a little." I poured the iodine onto the towel and made sure not to waste any of the precious fluid. "Ha! It cant hurt as bad as having a fucking blade slice through your-dammit that fucking hurts!" He tried to pull away, but I held the towel on his arm tightly. He was clenching his teeth and had squeezed his eyes shut as tight as they could. "I told you this would sting." He shook his head back and forth and said harshly, "You said it would hurt a little! Dammit!"

Kato had brought some duct tape, and I had Dan tear off a piece, and I used it to keep the towel in place. I knew it would hurt when he removed it. "Oh quit being dramatic, Shun." I let go of his arm now that everything was taped down. He glared at me, and I knew he wanted to say a few words about my comment, but he was biting his tongue and keeping his words to himself.

He got back up from the chair he was sitting in and said, "Ok. Lets go back up there." I grabbed his shoulder and brought him back into the chair. I told him sternly, "You're not going anywhere. Not until your arm is a little better. The others should be able to handle a floor or two. Right?" The seven people looked at each other and didn't say anything. Shun laughed. "You actually think they can hold their own? Hell, one cut my arm open cause he was so scared he thought I was after his damn brains!"

The one he was talking about slowly disappeared behind the others in the group, and held his head low. I glared down at the raven hair ninja, and he held my gaze and returned it to me. Dan then popped up between us and said, "I can lead them!" Shun nearly passed out cause he was laughing so hard. "Dan, you couldn't even lead a heard of goldfish."

Dan glared down at his friend and said, "How do you know if I'm capable of killing zombies if you're the only one doing it? Some of us need to start gaining experience." _Just admit you don't want him to get bitten, Shun._ Shun lifted up his hand and waved it. "I'm not saying it's because you don't have any experience. What I'm getting at is that you wanted to let one of them things live. Remember? You were willing to give your life for that thing." Dan's face grew red and his eyes seemed furious.

Only the three of us knew who we were talking about. The rest of the people in the room just looked shocked to hear Dan would give his life for something that was trying to take his. Dan said harshly, "Last time I did a reality check, you were the same way when you though Alice was going to turn into something you'd have to kill." The two locked eyes, then lunged for each other. The younger staff that went with Shun upstairs dove for the two fighting friends and pulled them apart. It took three to hold Dan back, and four to just remotely restrain Shun.

Dan had quit struggling, and so had Shun. The brunette was standing up, but still had hands holding him in case he tried to go at Shun again. I turned and saw Shun was bent over, the four people seemed to be holding him up by holding his elbows. His black hair was drooping over his face, but you could still see it.

I then noticed that he had blood on his face from when they went upstairs. There was something feral about seeing Shun like that' eyes glowing, blood splattered on his face, and people restraining him. The two boys were still holding each others narrowed gaze, and Shun then jerked himself free of the four people that were keeping him back.

He was standing straight and said, "Come on. Whether I'm hurt or not, we're going back up there. The sooner we get done, the quicker we get away from this god-forsaken place. Let's go! Don't just stand there like idiots!" The other three let go of Dan, and they followed behind Shun and grabbed the weapons they took with them on their first trip. Dan rubbed his neck, and I saw red marks there. I hadn't even noticed that Shun had a grip on his own friend's neck.

_Shun_

We had cleared two floors before we had to leave to get my cut open arm treated. Now we were resuming where we stopped. I was fuming with anger, and the best idea I had in the world was to take off the heads of flesh eating monsters before I took the head off my friend. I knew anger messed with your focus, but I didn't care. Cause I knew it also gave you an incredible edge.

We cleared yet another floor. And like we usually did when we cleared a floor, we looked in all the rooms for something we could take back; food, weapons, medicine, and so forth. I found one room, and flipped the light on. Luck us, the electricity hadn't gone out in the city yet. Wouldn't be much longer before I did though. There was a foul stench from the room, one that almost made me sick to my stomach. I looked around, and found the smell was stronger around the closet. I opened the door, and saw a body hanging by its neck with a short rope tied off somewhere.

_Poor bastard much of gotten caught up here when they locked off the rest of the floors._ I looked at his blue hands and saw there was a hand pistol held loosely in it. I reached for it, and pried the gun from the dead body's hand. I clicked open the chamber, and saw it had all of its bullets. I couldn't help but smile. "Excellent." I closed the closet door, unable to stomach the smell anymore.

I investigated more of the room, and found a small cooler next to the bed. They had one in every room, but they were all empty. But this one, had something in it. I opened it up and saw it filled with bottles and bottles of different kinds of wine and other alcoholic drinks. _He wanted to die happily drunk off his ass._ I found several empty bottles around the cooler and under the bed. _How many drinks did this guy have?_ The little cooler had kept the drinks cool and fresh since the electricity was still working.

I took one of the bottles and read the label. It was an imported wine from France. _Guy had it good his last few minutes._ I couldn't help but open the bottle and smell the liquid contents. There was something relaxing in the aroma. Next thing I knew, I had the bottle pressed to my lips and took several gulps. When I stopped, the liquid was burning my mouth and throat, and I felt as though I'd might be sick.

It was honestly the only time this much alcohol had touched my lips. I enjoyed the warming feeling of it though. I put the bottle to my mouth again and drank. _I needed this._ I had killed the bottle in a few minutes, and felt as if I didn't have a worry in the world. I pulled the pistol out of my back pocket and looked at it. I smiled and started laughing like a complete idiot. _Why am I laughing? Is it the wine?_

I used the wall to help myself up, and staggered out of the room. When I walked back into the hallway, I saw the seven people that had come with me. But they were fuzzy and blurred. One of them stepped towards me and said, "Are you ok?" I felt a sly grin cross my face, and I said in a voice that didn't seem like mine, "Never better."

I tightly gripped the handle of the pistol, and brought it up in front of me. I saw the guy hold up his hands, but before he could say anything, I had pulled the trigger. It was then that my eyes and mind came back into focus, and I saw what I had just done.

_Alice_

A shot was fired. A gun shot. We all had stopped whatever we were doing, and looked upstairs. None of us had guns. _So why was there a shot?_ I began to grow worried. What was going on up there? Who had a gun? I was tempted to go up there, but didn't know how safe it was.

We all stared at the hallway that they had left to go upstairs. Nobody said anything; we only waited for them to come back down and reveal to us the answer. We heard the frantic footsteps, and then saw the staff that had gone with Shun ran into the room carrying somebody's body, and blood was trickling out and leaving a thin trail.

The rest of us were murmuring. We didn't know what had happened. Was he bitten? Was there another accident? They laid the body down on a couch that was in the dining room, and worked quickly to clean up the blood. I saw it was the young staff member who had cut Shun's arm on accident.

I looked around and saw Shun then walk in from the hallway. His eyes looked glazed over, and he went over to the wall and slid down it and sat at the base. I ran over to him and asked, "Shun, what the hell happened?" I saw a hand pistol hanging in his hand, and thought I smelled alcohol on him. "Have you been drinking?" He lifted his head from his knees and had tears rolling down his cheeks. "What have I done?" He buried his face back in his knees, and kept asking the same question to nobody.

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><p>chapter title based of the song Crashed by Daughtry. i shall point out that there will not be an upload thursday, last football game. (thank goodness) as soon as i am done with this story, i will resume You're Still The One. It will only be a few more days. so bare with me. reas, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	10. Jump The Ledge

_Dan_

What the hell was going on? Everything was fine one minute, and now we had a person laying on a couch with a gunshot wound in his stomach. I didn't even pay any mind to what Shun was doing; my eyes were fixed on the shot wound. I ran over to them and asked, "What the hell happened to him?" They didn't answer my question, and continued to try and stop the bleeding.

Kato was across from me, and told them, "We don't have all the supplies we need to get the bullet out. I don't know what to do." I grabbed one of the panicking staff members and got his attention by shaking his shoulders. "What happened?" He seemed unprepared for me to shake him, and he looked even more confused on what to do next. I shook him again, and he spoke.

"Shun shot him. I don't know where he found a gun, but he shot him." I let go of the staff member, and he ran off back to help with the bloody mess. I turned and saw Shun sitting against the wall, and Alice was kneeling down next to him. Held in his hand was the gun. I stomped over there and reached down and picked him up by the collar of his shirt. "What the hell, Shun!" He was glaring down at me with his amber eyes, and I tried to hold his gaze. But there was just something too intimidating about him.

"It was an accident." _An accident? How is shooting somebody an accident?_ There was a low wheezing coming over from the guy that Shun had apparently shot. The three of us all walked over to him and looked at him. The young staff member said weakly, "Don't blame him for what happened. He didn't mean to." The guy laying before us coughed, and blood sputtered from his mouth and left little crimson dots on his clothes and face.

Kato told us, "He won't make it. He'll die from internal injuries and blood loss. Even if we did have the needed supplies to fix him up, he would still probably die." I saw in the corner of my eye, that Shun walked off into another part of the room.

I heard him ask Kato from across the room, "So there's no chance that he'll make it?" Kato wiped away some of the blood from the guy's face, and said, "Sadly yes." Shun walked back over to us, and he held his sword in his hands. I asked him, "What do you think you're doing?" He stared down at the guy he had shot and told us, "Everyone stand back." Not knowing what Shun was about to do, we did as he said.

_Shun_

I looked at what my stupidity had done, and hated myself for it. I told them all to stand back, and they didn't protest. Now I had plenty of room. If there were ever a moment that I felt like I was falling into a black pit, it was now. I squeezed the handle of the sword. With the rising tension, it felt much heavier than it really was. The man I shot, turned his head weakly and looked at me. He knew that I was about to play God with his life. He told me, "I don't blame you for this."

Oh how those words stung me like burning embers. I told him back, "But I do." I lifted the sword quicker than anyone could blink, and stuck the blade through the man's chest; right where his heart was. I closed my eyes before the fountain of blood could get into them, and I felt the thick warm liquid spray on and around me. I opened my eyes back up, and saw the only blood coming from his body now, was a thin stream where the sword pierced his heart.

I saw a drop of crimson blood drip from one of my black locks of hair and back onto the body it came from. Nobody around me said a word. My action was much to unexpected. I thought I would of felt sick like I did when I killed Julie, but later on I realized that it didn't matter cause of what she had turned into. This was a human though, not a zombie.

I guessed I had grown so used to taking the heads off of zombies, that killing without a thought was second nature to me now. _Is that why don't I feel like a monster?_ I pulled the sword out of the man's chest. The blade came out smoothly, and dripped with his blood. It was the first time it had ever had the blood of a human on it. I swung the blade to the floor, and a line of blood splattered onto the wall and floor, as if it had been cut open. Everyone was still deathly silent while I remained there and stared down at my work.

I told the others without taking my gaze from the body, "He was dead anyway. No point in letting him suffer." I took one last glance and turned from the corpse, and stalked off to my room. Nobody bothered to stop me.

_Alice_

It happened so fast, and left us all speechless. Shun didn't even hesitate to kill the guy he had shot. I understood why he did it though. They guy wouldn't have to suffer if it was an instant kill. They started to cover up the body and were going to dispose of it. I started walking towards the hallway and said, "You guys take care of this. I'm going to go check on Shun."

Dan grabbed my wrist and stopped me from walking any further. He stared into my eyes with so much seriousness, that I thought he was Shun for a moment. "Alice, be careful. Something about Shun isn't normal right now." _Dan's actually afraid of his best friend. _I started to wonder who everyone was more afraid of at the moment; the zombies or Shun. I nodded my head and told him, "I'll be ok, Dan. Thanks for your concern for my safety." He let go of my wrist and walked back over to the others to help with the removal of the body. We didn't need it in the dining area anyway.

I kept trying to tell myself that Shun was just doing that guy a favor, but I couldn't get that look out of my mind. Shun looked feral, and almost like he _wanted _to kill that guy. And seeing his face covered with that much fresh blood followed by that look in his eyes, it actually scared me. If I didn't know Shun any better, I would of thought he'd snap and take us out. This world was starting to get to him. I remembered being told stories about how people stranded on desert islands would revert back to prime instincts to survive; and that meant killing without second thoughts.

Maybe that's what was happening to Shun. Maybe his prime instinct at the moment was to kill to survive. I was now faced with his room, and feared to knock on the door. I took a deep breath, and turned the knob. "Shun?" I saw him sitting in the corner of the room, just like he was when they brought the young staff member's body downstairs. He had the room almost pitch black, and all I could see was his eyes when he looked up at me.

"Shun? I just came to check on you. Everything ok?" What kind of stupid question was that? Of course he wasn't ok. His amber eyes were fixed me, and burning holes through my body. If there was one thing at the moment that I knew, it was that we needed to hurry and get to that jet before Shun went anymore off the deep end.

_Shun_

The blood on my face was starting to dry from where I never washed it away. Alice was standing in the doorway; enough to be inside the room, but enough to make a break for it if she needed to. She was afraid of me. She wasn't the one that needed to be intimidated. Nobody downstairs needed to be. The only ones who did, were those stumbling monsters outside. What little brain they had left, needed to see me and run away.

That was what I was aiming for, but things got taken too far. My plan was failing, considering it would of even worked from the start. I wouldn't trust me either after I just put somebody out of their misery as brutally as I had. "Leave." Alice seemed shocked that I had spoken to her. "Leave? But why? I just came up here to check on you."

I narrowed my eyes at her and said, "That may be the case, but you don't want to be up here. I can see it in your eyes. You're scared. So leave." She stood there a few minutes before closing leaving the room and closing the door. Now the room was pitch black, but I could see just fine. All those years of ninja training in the dark had paid off. I didn't belong here anymore. If I knew the others could take care of their selves, I'd leave. Vanish just like in the old days.

Maybe I had spent all I was good for, and was now burning out. All of the facts were pointing to that; I had lost control and it ended up with the death of an innocent person. _But thousands of innocent died. So what's it to anyone if one more does? Living, or dead._ I knew what was best for the others. I got up and found my way in the dark. My sword and whip chain were both in the room, and I stuffed the chain into a bag with some supplies.

I hooked the sword to my belt loops and opened the locked window to the room. The room was four stories above the street, and I had a clear view of the ground. Every zombie in the city was surrounding the building. It was quite obvious we had been drawing way too much attention to this place; running the lights, yelling, and so on.

I stepped out of the window and onto the brick ledge. It was just wide enough for me to stand on. I reached back into my bag and pulled out a grappling hook, and threw it to the building next to the one we were in. I tested the strength of where I was hooked to, and jumped from the ledge. I swung right above the heads of hundreds on zombies, and not a one even noticed me.

I had almost swung over to the building I was aiming for, when I heard something tearing. I looked further up the rope, and saw the braided fibers breaking apart. I gasped, and the rope snapped. It sent me falling a good twenty feet right onto the street. I was unconscious for a second or two, but when I came to, the hoard that was surrounding Murucho's place was stumbling my way.

I tried to get up and run, but my body was still stunned from the impact of my fall. Anytime I got up, I'd fall back down. I was about to give up as they were closing in on me, when I felt something sharp stab my arm. I turned and saw a syringe stuck into my arm, and one of the people in white jumpsuits was injecting something into my arm. Once he pulled it out, I felt incredibly tired, and fell to the ground.

I was still able to see the hoard getting closer and closer, and I wanted to at least try and fight. I wasn't even concerned with what they just put into my body though. I heard the white suited man yell out, "Hey! We have a survivor! Hurry up!" _No. I'm not a survivor to you. I'm just a lab rat._ I felt one of them pick my limp body up and heard the buffering of helicopter blades. They had loaded me into a helicopter and were now flying me back to their lab. Where I was sure I'd be thrown into the pit of dead bodies. I closed my eyes, and passed out.

_Dan_

We could hear the sounds of the zombies running from in front of the building, but we didn't know why. We decided it was for the best to not question it. Odds are some poor soul had made it this far and was getting chased. Alice walked back into the dining room, and seemed sad. "What did he say?" She sat at the table with me and said, "He could tell I was scared of him, and told me to leave." Shun was seriously mixed up lately. I was sure it was the stress of the virus that had wiped out all of humanity, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something like this had been lurking around in him for as long as we had known each other.

Everyone froze at the sound of something cutting the air outside. One of the female maids ran up to a window and said, "It's a helicopter! And it's filled with some people in white jump suit looking things." _White jump suits? It couldn't be._ Alice and I ran over to the window and saw the people that we saw when we were in the tunnels, and that Shun told us about. I yelled at the others, "If they make their way in here and tell you they are rescuing survivors, don't go with them! They're the ones who caused all of this!"

Every face was just as shocked as when we were told about this by Shun. _Shun._ We needed him in case those people got in here. He could hold them off better than we could. I told Alice, "I'm going to get Shun! Keep the others safe till I get back." She nodded her head and moved them into another room. I ran through the halls and found Shun's door. The knob was locked, and I rammed the door with my shoulder. "Shun! Open up!" I finally broke the lock, and saw the room was empty.

All of his belongings were gone, and the window wide open to the outside. I ran over to it and looked out. The helicopter was taking off back towards the lab. I was angry. Shun had probably used his ninja skills and jumped to another building and was long gone. I stormed back to the others and saw Alice had them all huddled into the sitting room. "Dan! Where's Shun?"

I slammed my fist into the wall and made a hole in the sheetrock. "The son of a bitch left us here to die!" Everyone turned to one another, mumbling words to each other. Alice asked me, "Wh-what about the helicopter?" I growled and told her, "They took off. They're long gone. Just like Shun." None of us could fight off those zombies above us without Shun.

Hell, nobody told me, but I knew he did most of the killing up there. Only cause he was covered with more blood than the others. I yelled out of anger. "That bastard! How could he do this to us!" Alice was about to start tearing up, when the banging against the door resumed. _That door isn't going to hold much longer. _More zombies were probably out there now thanks to the helicopter. I clenched my teeth and fists. _Dammit._

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><p>hey people! check out my profile for a new poll, a direct link to the postercover to _The End Of Our World_ (i apoligize if it is crappy cause photobucket sucks). also, check out my other stories if you havent! no upload tomorrow. sorry! Read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	11. Victim 388

_Shun_

Everything around me was dark, but I heard voices that sounded as if they were in tunnels. "He hasn't been bitten. We can definitely use him for an experiment or two." _Experiment? What do they mean by that?_ I had no clue what was going on around me in this darkness.

Was I dead? Surely not. Why would people want to do experiments on me if I was dead? I couldn't feel my body. Instead, I felt as if I were floating in the blackness around me. I then did one thing I hadn't thought about yet; I opened my eyes. Oh how I wished I had kept them closed. The room I was in was a blinding white, and the lights shone down into my eyes and made me squint them shut. I turned my head back and forth slowly, looking for the source of the voices I had heard earlier. Up near the top of the ceiling, was a long window that took up the upper portion of the wall.

I was able to make out the shapes of people wearing white lab coats. It all came rushing back to me. I had just jumped from Murucho's place to give the others a better chance on making it from hoards of zombies, and the rope of my grappling hook had snapped and sent me to the zombie infested streets. I wasn't able to get away from them, and then one of those people up there had stuck me in my arm with something that had made my body limp and my mind tired.

I couldn't put up any resistance. I remembered who they were. They were the people who had released this relentless virus into the world, and were kidnapping any who were lucky enough to of survived so they could do tests on them to make an antidote that they were too stupid to make. _Experiments. They're going to use me as a test subject for their antidote!_ They all turned and saw I was awake, and left the room.

I panicked. They were probably making there was down to my solid white room with a syringe of their latest atrocity to humanity. But my body could move, and my voice refused to speak. What had they injected into my body? Three of the men walked into the room, all wearing their protective white jump suits. The tallest one said to me, "We were wondering if we had injected too much tranquilizer into you.

But you finally woke up, and now you're going to help us. You know, we haven't seen many survivors lately, and you're too well kept to of been out there on your own. Do you know where any others may be?" I wanted to scream and fight back, but their 'tranquilizer' had disabled all of that. Now they were asking where the others were. Even if I did want to tell them, I couldn't speak.

"Hmm. Looks like the meds haven't worn off completely yet. We'll come back in an hour or so and see where you're at then." An hour. That's all I had left. Was a measly hour. But I'd never tell them where the others were. I started to wonder how they were holding up. Had they noticed my absence yet? This time, a woman in just a lab coat walked into the room. She held a syringe filled with a thick blue serum, and placed it down on a metal tray. She smiled and told me, "Maybe you'll be lucky number 388."

_They've killed 387 people in the name of trying to cure this thing? 387 people who had survived one of their creations only to be killed by another that was trying to fix it?_ I really wasn't ever going to tell them where the others were. _This number should never go over 388. _I thought back to Alice. I had spent so many years watching from a distance, wondering about the what could be. I finally had it, and I had thrown it all away. All in the cause of giving them a chance to make it. I moved my hand.

I froze, realizing that I was gaining control back over my body. The meds were wearing off, and the sand in my hourglass was running out. My executors returned back into the room, and one wore a huge smile along his face. They must have been very confident in this batch of antidote. "Seems like enough of the medicine had worn off. We can go ahead and administer Antidote 388."

The woman who brought my death in a syringe, took an alcohol prep and wiped a spot on my arm clean. _What's the point of that? I'm going to die anyway._ I had no faith in their efforts to cure the destroyed human race. They took a think rubber band strip, and tied it around my arm. Then, the picked up the needle and I felt the tip puncture my skin, followed by the thick blue serum going into my veins. It was all a waiting game now.

_Alice_

"Shun would never abandon us! He had to have a reason for leaving!" I was yelling at Dan, trying to convince him that Shun hadn't left us here to die. But even I was having difficulties believing it myself. "Then explain why he isn't here, Alice!" I would of thrown in the theory of a zombie getting him, but all of his stuff had disappeared along with him. The relentless banging on the walls and doors continued as I said, "I don't know, Dan! I just refuse to believe that Shun left us here for food!"

Tears streaked down my face, and I wished that Shun were there to wipe them away. Cause I just didn't have it in me to go on anymore. We were trapped. No matter which angle you looked at it from. They were above and all around us. And even if we did clear out the upper floors, the jet still needed repairs. And that door wouldn't hold much longer. We had spent all of the valuable and precious time we had. Now we were nothing more that trapped food. One of the maids stepped into the sitting room from the hallway. Kato went up to her, "Anna, where have you been? We couldn't find you anywhere."

When that helicopter had flown over us, I tried to get as many people into the sitting room as I could, but I was missing one. Apparently it was her. She told Kato, "I was upstairs resting when I heard something like a helicopter. I looked out my window and saw them taking away that black haired boy." I shot straight up from my chair, almost knocking it over. "No! They couldn't of taken Shun!" She seemed shocked at my sudden outburst and told me, "I saw it with my own eyes. I may be getting old, but I can still see fine. He seemed to be very limp though, and wasn't putting up a fight at all."

My legs were shaking as I sat back down in sheer shock. Dan's face was also surprised, because the two of us knew what happened if you were taken back to that lab. You were as good as dead. Dan said with no expression, "It's been hours since that helicopter came this way. Shun's probably already dead. At least he didn't die like we're going to." Most of the people around here now would prefer death by lethal injection, but there was no telling how painful the one Shun probably had received.

I brought my hand up to my mouth to hide my quivering lip. Although I couldn't hide the tears flooding from my eyes. The maid Anna, the one who had given us this horrible news, came and sat next to me on the sofa. She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and whispered to me that it would be ok. No. It wouldn't be ok. In one day two people had died. One of which may have held our best chances of surviving. At least with Shun, we may have had a few more days left.

The sound of something like a bass drum rang out in the sky. _Thunder._ We saw one of the high placed windows turn from blue to dark gray and lightning cut through the clouds. You could hear the wail of the wind and rain through the walls. Sadly, a storm never deters the dead. I turned and face Kato. "Kato, can I ask of one favor if we ever do make it to the jet in time?" He raised one of his bushy eyebrows and said, "Sure. What is it?" I narrowed my eyes at the sound of zombies trying to claw their ways into the building. "I want to go to that lab."

_Shun_

Only seconds after the serum hit my bloodstream, the pain hit me. I was screaming as if I were being murdered. Which in a sense, I was. My face was soaked with tears of pain. My skin felt like it was trying to crawl away from my bones, and it burned as the serum went through my body. I could let out sobs cause my screams were taking them over. I tried to pull my arms around me, but they had tied my arms and legs down to the bed to restrain me. If I didn't die from the antidote first, I thought I may die from the pain instead. My body felt like it was on fire, and I was pouring sweat as my temperature increased.

They had explained to me that the antidote they were giving me was supposed to be the virus, but reversed. Instead of killing anything living, it restored anything dead or damaged. It felt like it was doing more damage than restoring. But right down the core, it was the virus that turned you into a mindless cannibal. I could tell my body temperature was much higher than it should be. Those devils in white lab coats were standing in their little observing room, taking notes on how the antidote destroyed my body.

I couldn't scream anymore. I had no more energy. Not even enough to flail like I had been at first. I wished I did though. Cause laying there and allowing the pain to course through my body was just too much. _How can these people live with themselves? Have they no soul or mercy?_ Wires were stuck on me to monitor my vitals, and I wondered how off the charts they were at first and how dangerously low they were now. Cause at the moment, I felt dead. Anywhere that antidote went, felt dead.

If only I were. They pushed a little button and I heard a voice over a speaker. _Well it's nice to communicate with your victims._ "Just to tell you, the worst of this isn't over yet. What you felt was your body reacting to the foreign substance. It hasn't quit yet started fighting it." _There's more to come? _I moved my eyes to my wrists. Where they had tied them to the railing, had dark bruises on them from where I had flailed due to the pain. I wanted to say so many words to them, but just didn't have it in me.

I was panting now. Just as if I had run my entire life and was now taking a break. I could barely catch my breath, and I thought that for a minute that I wouldn't be able to breathe. I struggled, but was able to keep air in my lungs. Staring up at the ceiling, was the first time I noticed it was one big mirror. I could see everything in the room; all the medical equipment, wires plugged into me, and most of all, me. My skin color matched the white color of the room, and I could see dark circles around my eyes.

I looked like one of those things stumbling around outside. I started to think about who was the first person to get the virus, and the first to endure this pain. Were they anyone we knew? I doubted it. My thoughts went to Dan's plan to go to Murucho's place and take the jet to Moscow and used the transporter to go to another dimension. It all seemed so simple and easy.

Now, we were all trapped. All looking death in the eyes at every turn. I felt like a truck just rammed into my body, and I arched my back and screamed louder than I had earlier. I didn't think it was possible for the pain to get worse. My vision went from fuzzy to dark around the edges.

There was a reddish tint to everything as well, and I felt something warm and thick flow from my eyes. It touched my lips, and it tasted coppery. It was blood. I was crying blood. Now, I was back in my darkness, still able to feel all the pain.

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><p>i am back! and there are no more football games! yes! if you havent already checked out my profile, please do so for a poll and the coverposter for the story! there is going to be another upload today. i feel like i owe it after not doing one yesterday. read, review, and other things! ~Copperpelt~


	12. Awake And Almost Alive

_Dan_

Alice wanted to go to that lab where all this hell originated, all because of Shun. Me and her both knew damn well, that Shun was ancient history. Gone like most of the living people in the world now. I looked at her and said, "Alice. Why the hell do you want to put our lives in danger by going to that lab, just cause of a slim possibility that Shun might still be halfway alive."

She didn't face me, but I saw tears falling from her face. "I just want to know. You'd do the same if it were Runo, wouldn't you? You'd want to know that if she were dead or alive." I bite my lip. It hurt every time to think about Runo, and the horrible thing that had happened to her. So far, not a day had gone by that I wished that it had been me instead of her. "I _know_ that she's dead though. And you know that Shun is gone as well. You just don't want to admit it."

I didn't mean to sound to harsh, but Alice needed to get out of her little dreamland where there weren't any zombies wanting to eat our insides. The room was silent, except for the raging storm going on outside. I did feel bad for her though. Runo and I had years worth of moments, while Shun and Alice had only maybe one or two.

They had spent all those years waiting for one of them to confront the other and admit they had feelings for each other. "Alice, I'm sorry. But our top priority right now is getting out of here alive. Don't you think that's what Shun would want?" I was walking on this ice.

I knew of Alice's temper, and if I hit a nerve just right it would come out. I was surprised she had gone this far keeping it contained. I sighed and turned to the zombie killing team that Shun had put together. "Let's finish up the job and get out of here."

_Shun_

I was floating. Floating in water, and sunlight was being distorted above me. _How did I get here?_ It was a peaceful place though; no pain whatsoever. My hair drifted with the light current. All my worries were nonexistent. If this was death, then I was happy for it. I smiled as a small fished swam above me. It turned and looked in my direction, then darted off.

Something wasn't right about that. Hands then grabbed my shoulders, and I turned and saw hundreds of waterlogged zombies swimming up from the deep and pulling me down. I screamed, and now I felt like I was drowning. The water around me was turning to black, and the zombies that were dragging me down were biting my arms and legs. I kept screaming, but the water had filled my lungs so much that I couldn't keep it up. My body then jolted awake. I felt like I had been drugged to no end.

I reminded myself what happened when I saw the white room, and my reflection in the ceiling mirror. I couldn't see straight though. Everything was blurred and shaking, but I could make out my figure surrounded in bloodstains. I still felt as if I were drowning. My breaths were escaping my grasp every minute. I felt that the restraints on my wrists and legs had been removed.

_They must know that I'm too weak to put up a fight now._ My body stung with pain, but it wasn't as bad as when I blacked out. My mouth was bone dry, and I knew I must be going through dehydration from my spiked body temperature. I saw the blurred figures of the people who had done all of this to me. They were still monitoring me, and I knew that they would keep on until I was good as dead. A voice came over the speaker. "Well, we're surprised you've made it this far.

We were sure that you'd die once your body started fighting the virus. But the worst of it is over for the moment." _More pain to come. At least I have a break._ They didn't say anything else, and I knew they were done with me for the time being. I sighed. I wanted this to end. I didn't want more to come. I wanted this thing to hurry up and kill me. I closed my eyes, and saw Alice. It hurt me inside to see that. I opened my eyes back up, and she was gone. But her thought still lingering in my mind.

_Alice_

The sound of the storm drowned out that of the zombies, and I enjoyed that. But even with you unable to hear them, you knew they were still there. And that was a scary thought. You almost trick yourself into thinking it was just another day, but then your mind flipped back on and reminded that if you stepped outside you'd die.

I was on my back in my room, under several blankets to keep myself warm; the air conditioner and heater had given out. If we didn't work quickly, then the power and so on would burn out and we would slowly be forced out of hiding to find more power to meet our needs. A bolt of lightning lit up the room for half a second, then sent it back into the darkness. Even though it was dark, I felt safe. As if I were in a little bubble and not in a tall building that was enclosed by monsters. The dark hid those monsters, while the light revealed them. I crawled out from my warm bed, and stepped out in the hallway.

We all had grown so used to the halls being safe, that we no longer checked for sets of teeth coming for our necks. It was a bad habit we had developed. I walked to the sitting room, and sat on a couch. The Brawlers had spent so many years here. I pictured where everyone sat. And when I turned around, I saw where Shun would stand. Far away from everyone else. I never noticed that he always stood right behind where I sat. "Couldn't sleep either?" I jumped up, and saw Dan standing in the doorway. Well, more like made out his shadowed figure and voice. "Yeah. Same with you?"

He walked over next to me and looked out the rain soaked window. "Yeah. Guess I've grown so used to those things making all that noise that now that I cant hear them it's weird to sleep. You were thinking about him. Weren't you?" I sighed. "Of course I'm thinking about him, Dan. If I wasn't, then something would be wrong with me." He tapped his fingers on the window and turned towards me. "You just need to accept he's gone." I didn't face him. "How can you be so cold, Dan? Shun was your best friend in the whole world. And now you act like he didn't mean anything. Is it cause he left? Well guess what. He's suffered for that cause he's being experimented on by some sick people."

Dan put a hand on my shoulder and looked at me right into my eyes. "No. None of that is the case, Alice. I'm not mad at him for leaving. And I know that he's probably suffered. But you have to understand that staying in the past won't help get us where we need to go."

_Shun_

My stomach felt like it had just done a back flip, and I forced my body to roll over and I threw up next to the bed. I rolled back over and felt my hand shaking as if I were freezing to death, but I knew it was the serum returning for another round. Everything started to spiral, and the room began spinning. My drugged mind didn't react though. I felt my heart rate speed up, and I felt as though I'd be sick again.

I kept everything down though. I knew those people were up there observing me again now that something was happening. I began to think this was some kind of sick, twisted game to them. I was probably the only one that had made it this far. What would they do if they had made the antidote though? _They'd probably use it for their own selfish gains._ I forced my weak body to sit upright, and I had to catch my breath when I succeeded. I knew they were having a field day up there seeing me sit up. I glared up at them and said, "Tell me this. How does this prove the antidote works, if it's on a living person? Shouldn't you have one of those things in here instead of me?"

I almost fell forward, and knew that I should be laying down instead of sitting up. The same voice came over the speaker. "Because, we need a person who is infected. We can't cure one that has already turned." I held myself up with my hands, and never took my eyes off of them. "But I'm not infected. I heard you say that yourselves." I started to get too dizzy, and fell back on the bed. "You weren't. Until we injected the virus into you. You see, we have to make the antidote strong enough to kill the virus, but weak enough to not kill the host. We've yet to accomplish that. But you've lasted longer than any other subject. We're truly impressed. We may of found our antidote."

I cringed at a sharp pain that shot through my body, but it quickly subsided. "But making this antidote is in vain. There's barely anyone left to give it to since you've taken so many people and killed them." My eyes started to grow dark around the edges again, and I knew I was on the verge of passing out again. "Ha-ha! You know, we were really shocked when we saw you laying in the street. Specially since you had snuck into the lab and saw some of our work."

My eyes widened in shock. "Yes. We knew you made your way into our lab, but we didn't worry about you. We knew that even if you told somebody about us, that nobody would do anything." I was about to say something when that lady walked back into my room, carrying another syringe. "Don't worry, hun. This is to just help you sleep. It'll work quick." They didn't clean an area this time when they stuck the needle in. She was right though, it did work quick. Because I fell asleep before the serum even went into my body.

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><p>well, again. if you havent gone to my profile, please do to see a poll and a coverposter for the story. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	13. Flares Of Death

_Alice_

Dan had made a valid point, but something in me was screaming that Shun was still alive. _I just know he is. Shun wouldn't go down without a hell of a fight. _A plate of food was placed down in front of me. The portions were getting smaller and smaller everyday. That just proved how much time we had left. A lot of us thought that the power would go out before we ran out of food. _Looks like that's not going to happen._

I ate the small portions anyway. We all needed to keep up our energy in our final attempt to kill of the zombies above us. Dan and Shun's old team were up there at the moment clearing off floors. This was their second run up there. They had returned an hour or so ago, and told us they had cleared off two floors, but lost one of the team members. I hadn't to admit it, but if Shun were still with them, they probably wouldn't lose anyone.

Shun had cleared about three or four floors, and the only reason one of them died was because Shun did something stupid and reckless. Which I still couldn't believe he would do something like that. _I guess that just proves the strength of the stress being put on everyone._ I looked down at my hand. The bite mark was almost gone, and all that was left were the little white scar lines that I would have the rest of my life. I was the lucky one that could get bitten and live to talk about it.

Now if I were trapped in those streets and got ripped to shreds I wouldn't make it. Just like Murucho. There wasn't even enough left of him to come back. I took a sip of my water, which wasn't as clean as it should be because the water plant had started to breakdown. It had a sandy taste to it, and I didn't even want to drink the rest of it. _Boom._ Our heads whipped around to the sudden sound. It wasn't from upstairs, but outside. My first thoughts were that those people in white jump suits were back, and that would mean that Shun didn't survive their torment.

Me and the other survivors ran upstairs to look out of a window. I was the first one there. Flying into the sky, was a red flare. _That sound was from a flare gun._ When I looked down I saw the hoard surrounding us, walking towards the red fire ball. Whoever those people were that had just signaled they were alive, wouldn't be for much longer if they kept that up. A part of me was happy that the zombies were going away from us, but I couldn't help but feel like a bad person at that thought.

Dan and his team found us looking out the window and asked, "What the hell was that?" Dan was in his leader mode as plain as daylight. That was when he made his best, and worst decisions. I turned to him as the others went back downstairs. "It was a flare gun. Somebody was trying to call for help, but all they did was just kill themselves."

He looked out the window at the smoke trail left from the flare and said, "Well, I send them my best wishes. But at least this gives us a little more time." Deep down inside, we were all thankful that those monsters were stumbling somewhere else instead of trying to break into our safe haven. I asked Dan, "Does it make us bad people to be happy that somebody else is going to die?"

He adjusted the goggles on his head and leaned himself on the metal bar he had found somewhere in the building. I saw the blood on the end, and watched it drip down to the carpet. "It would of made us bad people before all of this happened. But not now. It's everyone for themselves out there."

_Shun_

Another day in my own personal hell. I had never been so tired, but I refused to sleep cause I was too afraid to know what they might do while I slept. I didn't think they were still watching me. Nothing interesting was happening at the moment. Just me laying in this bed with a reversed version of the virus in my body. _Yeah, nothing interesting there._ I started to think they only were interested when I was in pain. The fever I had when they first injected me, was still lingering, but I felt it starting to go down.

_Maybe this thing is working._ I asked them hoarsely, "So, what are you people called anyway? I know you can't be with the government. Not even politicians are this evil." My voices sounded so shaky and weak that I thought it wasn't even mine. I got a response, but it wasn't from the usual voice. "That's none of your concern what our organization is called." I sighed. It was worth a shot to put a name to these people.

I could only put together my own theories. Maybe they were a rogue department to the CDC or something like that. My stomach growled. They hadn't given me anything to drink or eat in my stay. I didn't want anything anyway. Odds were that I wouldn't be able to keep it down. Although I would of thought that they'd at least give me IV fluids so I didn't dehydrate from the fever.

I guessed they figured if I had made it this far with their antidote, that I didn't need any. My vision had came back into focus recently, and I saw the room clearly again. I saw what I looked like now in the ceiling mirror. The bloodstains were still on and around me, and had started to turn brownish in color. I didn't even look like I had eyes anymore cause of the dark circles around them.

I shut my eyes, not wanting to see anymore. I turned my head and opened them back up. The bruises on my wrists were starting to heal, when they should have been there for weeks. _The antidote. It's fixing the damage…It's working._ I looked up at their little observing room, and saw that several on the men were talking to each other.

Did they know that their antidote was working? They couldn't possibly know. They hadn't been in here since they had that woman knock me out. I made a promise right then and there, that if I made it out of there alive that I would personally take care of Dan's wish for them to be ripped to shreds.

_Dan_

I slammed the metal bar into the zombie's head one last time for good measure. It was a weird feeling the first time I had killed one, but I had grown used to it. I turned to my team and said, "That's the last one on this floor. Do you guys want to do one more floor before we head back?" I doubted they did. We had been killing these things all morning, and were tired. _Shun would of cleared twice as many floors as we have._

One of the taller members walked forward. I think he had said his name was Josh. "How about we rest and continue later on in the afternoon, Dan?" I nodded. It sounded good to me. We stepped over the bodies we had left splayed out in the hallways and headed back to the others. Normally we would of done a room check for supplies, but would go back over it later.

Right now we just wanted to get cleaned up and relax. _Relax._ It was such an alien word now. Nobody could relax. On the way back down, one of my team stopped and opened a window. He had stuck his head out slightly and took in a deep breath of air. I asked him, "What do you think you're doing, Nolan?" He used his thumb and pointed out the window. "I was just getting some fresh air. I've been cooped up in here so much that I wanted something new to breathe in."

I didn't think the smell of smoke and death could be fresh, but we had been rolling in it for hours upstairs. So it was a step up from that. I looked out there with him, and around the building was virtually abandoned. I stared off into the distance of where the flare had gone off. The smoke was gone. All around the sky was dark gray clouds. Not like rain clouds, but like that from smoke and smog.

It made the destroyed city look even more apocalyptic than before. Off in the distance, I caught the screams of horror. Those things had found the people who sent off the flare. _Now will they come back for us?_ I doubted it, but didn't want to take any chances. I told Nolan, "Go tell the others that we're going back up there in a few hours." He nodded his head and ran off downstairs. I sighed and slammed the window shut to drown out the screams of the latest survivors to be eaten alive.

_Alice_

"What do you mean we're going back up there in a few hours?" Josh had picked up Nolan by the collar of his shirt. He was so much bigger than skinny little Nolan, and could snap him in half like a twig. Nolan stuttered to him, "Th-that's what D-Dan said." Josh dropped him and let out a huff. "I can't believe we have to go right back up there. I thought we were going later on in the afternoon or night." Nolan gathered himself off the ground and inched his way behind me.

"You see Josh, those people that sent off that flare just got caught by the zombies. And Dan doesn't want to take any chances with them coming back looking for seconds." _So they got a hold of those people. That was a lot quicker than I thought._ Josh shook his head. He had shaved his blonde hair into a buzz cut yesterday, and he looked ready as ever to fight. He sighed and said, "Guess I better go ahead and rest up while I still can."

He stalked off with the others, but Nolan stayed behind me. I told him, "He's gone. I think you can go downstairs now." Nolan couldn't be much bigger than me. His hair was black, but nowhere near as black as Shun's. Nolan's was much lighter, and almost looked like a navy blue. He told me, "Josh was always a jerk, and since the zombie outbreak he's only gotten worse. I kept thinking he was going to get rid of Shun and take over as leader of the team. That is, when Shun was still leading us. But I think he was too afraid. Now with Dan leading us, I know he's probably going to. It's just how he is. He always wants to be at the top of the food chain."

I wanted to laugh at the irony of this. _Josh wants to be at the top of the food chain, but now he's at the bottom like the rest of us._ I had seen how Josh acted, and agreed that he would do something like stage a mutiny against Dan. Thing is, Josh wasn't leader material at all. I told Nolan, "Don't worry. Dan won't let that happen. It may not seem like it, but Dan is much more like Shun than you may think."

We walked from the room and downstairs. He told me as when cleared one flight, "Yeah. I've seen the similarities. But Shun seemed more….How can I put this?….Relentless? I guess that would be the word. Yeah. I'm going with that. Dan gets the job done, but even I can see that he doesn't want to kill those things up there. Shun seemed so emotionless when he killed them."

We all had seen it. Shun even made eye contact with those things, and never showed anything but anger or hatred towards them. I knew it wasn't towards the zombies themselves. It was more towards the people who had turned them into the zombies. We were now back with the others when the phone on the wall rang. All of us dropped what we were doing.

We knew the phones still worked, but anyone we had tried to call never picked up for obvious reasons. Kato picked up the phone. "Hello?" He sat there for a second or so, and hung it up. He looked at us and said, "The automated messages are still running." We all rolled our eyes.

Of course the recorded telemarketer calls were still operational because nobody turned them off. I hated though, for a split second I thought it may have been Shun calling from somewhere to tell us he escaped and had made it out alright. _It's just wishful thinking, Alice._

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><p>well, this took longer than expected. mainly cause i waited for my dad to leave and he took his precious time. -.-'' i'm going to update in a few hours after i finish up my to do list. again, check out my profile if you havent. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	14. Betrayed

_Alice_

It was a quiet day. Much too quiet. You couldn't even hear Dan and the others upstairs. I took what Nolan had told me earlier about Josh possibly taking over as leader, and thought about. Would he really do something so drastic as killing or wounding Dan, just to be the leader?

People were doing unpredictable things everyday, so it wouldn't be unheard of now. Footsteps sounded from the stairs, and I thought it may have been Dan and the others. They stopped right before the doorway though, and you weren't able to see who it was. I walked towards the door.

"Hello? Dan? Is that you?" Nobody answered. I called out again. "Is everything alright?" I was right at the doorway now, when two glowing red eyes flashed open. Out of the darkness, lunged a zombie. Its hands latched onto my shoulders and tackled me to the ground. I put my hands up on its chest and kept it away from my throat. "Somebody! Help!" I didn't worry about being bitten. I was worrying about this thing ripping open my throat. The maid, Anna, ran into the room and nearly fainted.

"Help! Go get some help! Hurry! I can't hold this thing forever!" Drool dripped from its mouth and landed on my neck. My skin shook at the disgusting feel of it. I didn't spend any time observing the face to see if it was somebody I knew or not. I'd do that after it was dead. Anna was taking too long, and I began to look around the room for a weapon while holding my attacker just above me.

In the very corner of the room, was an umbrella stand. And sticking out of it was one umbrella with a large metal tip on the top. It was calling my name. _Begging _me to take it and defend my life with it. My arms were growing tired from holding the monster up. I used my feet and kicked him off. In the split second I had, I ran over to the stand and pulled out the umbrella.

The zombie had gotten back up of its feet, and his eyes found me. I had only one chance to kill him, because I was trapped in this corner. He bared his teeth and limped in my direction. I saw why it was limping; he was missing a foot. He stretched out his hands to grab me. One blue fingertip grazed me when I stuck the tip of the umbrella into his head. It dropped to the ground, but still moved.

The tip hadn't gone in far enough to kill him. Now I was left with him and nothing left to finish him off. Anna finally ran back into the room, and had Dan right behind her. She gasped and said, "Oh thank heavens we got here in time!" _This is what you call in time?_ Dan walked over to the zombie that was crawling around on the floor, and looked him over. "Looks like you just missed the brainstem. Other than that, good job." I liked how Dan acted like a professional in zombie anatomy.

He took the metal bar in his hand and slammed it down onto the neck and actually severed the head. He straightened his back and said, "Well, he's dead now. You ok, Alice?" I wiped at where that thing had drooled on me and cringed as some of it touched my hand. "Yeah. A little disgusted though." I wiped my hand on my jeans, and stepped over the body. I asked Dan, "How did he get in here?"

He looked him over again and said, "We must of missed one. We'll have to go back over all the floors and make sure this doesn't happen again." I followed Dan into the sitting room, where the others were looking at us and wanting to know what had happened. Dan told them calmly, "Don't worry. One just slipped past us and made its way downstairs. Nobody was hurt and it won't happen again." They all looked at each other and seemed to be confident in Dan's statement, but I noticed something.

Josh was standing in the very back of the room, out of sight. He then slinked off into the room next to us. Something wasn't right about this. Just like Josh had, I snuck around the others and left into the room that he had gone into. None of us had really been in there. It was nothing more than another sitting room. But it was pitch black. "What are you doing in here, Alice?"

I jumped. It was Josh's voice, but I couldn't find him. "Josh? Why'd you come in here?" I was scared to go any further in the room. I didn't know why Josh was in here, but I knew he couldn't be up to anything good. The door behind me slammed shut, and now I was in total blackness.

No more light from the sitting room where the others were. I tried to run for the door, but couldn't find it in the darkness. A set of hands grabbed onto my shoulders, and I was slammed into the wall. "Let me go!" I hand went across my mouth, and I couldn't call to the others for help. I heard Josh's voice tell me in a threatening tone, "Listen up. You stay the hell out of my way. I didn't keep that zombie alive for it to get you. I wanted it to get Dan. And if you tell him, or anyone else, then I will make sure it looks like both of you were eaten by those things. Got it?"

_He is trying to kill Dan._ His hand tightened around my face, and he brought me closer to him. "Do you understand me dammit!" I strained myself to nod my head, and when he let go of me he threw me to the ground. I could only see his eyes, but I knew he was smiling. I put my hand on my face where he had placed his, and watched from the ground as he opened the door and walked out of the room. He stopped at the door and brought a finger up to his lips. Reminding me to stay quiet. _I can't let him get away with this._

_Dan_

Josh had disappeared right at the time we were prepping to go back upstairs to check all of the floors. I still didn't know how that one slipped by us, but I did know if it could happen once it could happen again. He then appeared from out of nowhere, and I asked him, "Where the hell did you go?" He took a metal bar that was similar to mine and said, "Sorry for keeping you waiting, but I had to take care of something real quick." I raised an eyebrow. Something was weird about how he said that. I noticed something else too. Alice wasn't in the room at the same time that Josh had vanished.

I seriously doubted that those two were messing around. "Josh, do you know where Alice ran off to?" He was practicing his swing with the metal bar and said, "Nope. Not a clue." I narrowed my eyes at him. He was hiding something. I shook away the thoughts and set my mind at the task at hand; making sure we haven't missed anymore zombies. If we had, then next time somebody else might get attacked. We walked slowly through the halls, and double checked every room.

Every floor up to the one we left off, was clear. Not a zombie in sight. Something just didn't add up. I turned and faced my team. "Ok. We're going to clear the floor above us and head back since we've spent so much time checking the halls." The floor only possessed two or three of the monsters, and we looked in the rooms for supplies. We didn't find anything of use other than a case of water somebody had left. I told the others, "Go on back downstairs. I'll catch up in a minute."

Everyone left, except for Josh. I asked him, "You going to stay here and help me look in the rooms?" He had a mischievous grin on his face, and I took a step away from him. He took a step closer to me. I tried to dart around him, but he grabbed me and threw me back down the hall. He lifted me by my neck and suspended me in the air. He said to me, "Don't worry, Kuso. I'm not going to kill you myself. I'm going to let those things above us take care of you. Shame that zombie I let live attacked that stupid girl instead. Oh well. I'd like to see you escape from this."

I tried to pry his hands from my neck, but I couldn't. He carried me to the door leading to the staircase of the next floor. I gasped for air and wriggled my body to get free. He had too tight of a grip on me though. He opened the door and threw me into the stairwell, and slammed the door shut. I tried to turn the knob, but he had locked it. I couldn't make too much noise, or else I'd draw attention to myself.

And I couldn't fight them off because I had dropped my weapon when I was thrown to the ground. I heard moans coming my way, and made out the shapes of at least ten zombies stumbling down the stairs and coming my way. I kept pulling at the door, hoping to break free. They were only a few feet from me, and it was like I could feel their breath at my neck. _Why would Josh do this?_

The door then swung open, and a small hand grabbed me and pulled me out of the stairwell. I saw Alice slam the door shut and lock it back. I was on the floor, panting and shaking from adrenaline. "Dan….Are you…..Ok?" She was panting just as I was. I nodded my head, unable to speak. Alice looked down at me, was still holding to door. Even though it was locked.

"Dan, I'm sorry I didn't warn you about Josh." I blinked a few times, trying to process what she was telling me. "He threaten me if I told you what he was planning to do." I saw a bruise on her arm. I motioned to it with my head and asked, "Did Josh do that to you?" She looked down at it and had a sad smiled on her face. "Yeah. He slammed me against the wall."

I knew if Shun was still here, he'd have a cow if he found out that somebody hurt and threatened Alice. I felt it was my responsibility to take up for him. I wouldn't let this slide by with nothing done about it. I stood up, and walked over to her. "Here. Let me see what he did." She showed me her arms, and there were several bruises on her arms, and one on her face.

"He did a number on you. Don't worry, I won't let him get away with this. Shun would do the same thing if he saw this." We turned to the door and heard the zombies inside clawing at the door. Alice told me, "Let's get out of here. I don't like being this close to those things." We both walked down the hallway and back to where the others were. _I wonder how Josh will react when he sees I'm still alive._

_Shun_

The lady who had knocked me out earlier, walked back into my room and hooked up a bag of clear liquid to one of my IV lines. I asked her weakly, "What are you giving me now?" She smiled down at me and said, "Just some fluids and nutrients. My bosses think that the antidote has gone far enough that it shouldn't do anything funny with the IV. That's why we've been depriving you of food and water. They didn't want anything causing the antidote to not work correctly."

The IV started dripping, and I immediately started to feel better. She left from the room, same smile on her face. I stopped her. "How can you live with yourself knowing that you're killing people." Her smile widened. "Because, if I help them make an antidote, then I can survive if I'm ever infected." _She doesn't even care that all these people are dying. She only cares if she lives or not._

I felt my strength returning slowly. It amazed me how that IV had made such a difference in so little time. I could actually lift my arm up without passing out. Their antidote might be something of a miracle, but you had to survive it to reap the benefits of it. I was still tired though. I hadn't gotten a decent sleep since I was brought here. But now, I felt like I could sleep easily. I closed my eyes and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

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><p>well. i think that may be it for today. i may update later tonight. not sure. there should be updates tomorrow as well. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	15. Stand Strong

_Dan_

Right now, I was supposed to be dead. Boy, was Josh in for a surprise after what he had done to me and Alice. It was one thing to try and kill me via zombie, but hurting Alice just to make sure she would stay quiet was on another level. Alice didn't seem to want to go into the room where the others, and Josh, were at the moment. I told her, "Don't be scared, Alice. I'm not going to let him lay a finger on you." I heard Nolan talking through the door. "Hey, Josh. Where's Dan? You were the last to leave the hallway."

I had my ear pressed against the door now to hear Josh's answer. "I don't know. I think he went up to the next floor for some reason. I hope nothing has happened." I gritted my teeth together. The bastard was playing the innocent act perfectly. Footsteps were coming towards the door, and Alice and I ducked behind it. The door opened and Nolan stepped into the room. He closed the door and we stepped out. I said, "Nolan?" He turned and saw me and Alice, and looked shocked.

"Dan! You're alive! The second I saw Josh come back from upstairs without you I thought he had killed you!" I shook my head and told him, "No. But the bastard almost did. If it wasn't for Alice, I'd be dead right now." He turned and saw the bruises on Alice's arms and face. Nolan frowned. "Josh did that. I know he did." I thought I sensed a touch of anger in Nolan's voice.

Was it possible he had a little crush on Alice? He was kind of late if he did, because Shun and Alice had kind of admitted their feelings for each other a while back. She put up her hand and said, "Yeah, but don't fret over it. He'll get what's coming to him eventually." Nolan sighed and turned back to me. "So Dan, what are you going to do? Josh thinks you're dead, and if he sees you he'll just play it off and plot up his next plan to kill you." Nolan was right. The second Josh saw I was alive he'd start planning another way to throw me to the zombies.

And if he saw me with Alice he'd figure out that she helped save me and might go after her. Josh wasn't as dumb as he looked. "I don't know. I can't just hide. I'd have to emerge sooner or later. Alice, you got any ideas?" It would worked better if the three of us put our heads together and come up with something. We had to figure something out so that Me, Nolan, and Alice didn't end up victims of Josh's hunger for power.

_What did Josh do anyway? I know he worked here for Murucho's family. Wasn't he the personal trainer or something?_ "Dan, did you hear me?" I shook my head and looked at Alice. "Uh, no. Sorry. Could you repeat please?" She rolled her eyes and said, "I suggested that we just go in there and let him know that you're alive. I know its risky, but if we stick to the others all the time he won't have a chance to take any of us down." I was biting the end of my thumb and thinking over her idea.

"It might work. But what about when we split up to go upstairs? I mean, we have only two or three floors left till we hit the roof. But when we're split up he can take us out one by one. And I'm sorry to admit this Nolan, but odds are he'll take you out before anyone else." He sighed and seemed to know it was the truth. Nolan was much smaller than Alice, and made him an easy target. He'd then probably go after Alice next, and finish up with me. Considering nobody else caught onto his sick game.

I sighed. "Well, if we're going to show him that his plan didn't work, let's get it out of the way now." Nolan and Alice nodded and walked with me to the door. Everyone was still in the room; Kato, Anna, and the others. But most importantly, so was Josh. He was the first to act surprised. "Dan! You alright? What took ya? We were starting to get worried." I grinned and went along with his act.

"I was still up there when you left, when I ran into another zombie. I tried to call you back in there to help me, but I guess you didn't hear me. Oh well. I handled it on my own." He shrugged his shoulders and said, "My bad. If I had heard you, I would of come and helped." He walked out of the room, and I watched as he left. I'd have to keep my door locked, eyes around every corner, and guard up from now on. It was a shame when the living wanted to kill you too.

_Alice_

I had been cautioned by Nolan and Dan to be careful while going to my room for the night. I made sure that I peered around hallways and walked quickly. Time was everything. The light was on in the hall, and I was thankful for that because it left nowhere for him to hide. I ran up to my room door and hurried inside, being sure to lock it the minute I was in. I dove into my bed and covered myself up under my blankets. Despite being locked in my room, I didn't feel safe.

I thought I heard something outside of my room, and sat up. I saw the shadow of feet under my door, and something being stuck into the doorknob. Whoever was out there was picking my lock, and I knew who it probably was. I covered my head up with my blankets, hoping he'd go away if he thought I was asleep. What fun was it killing somebody if you couldn't see their facial reaction? I was shaking, and wished that by some miracle that Shun would materialize in the room and keep me safe.

I heard the door open, and let a tiny gasp escape my mouth. I covered my mouth with my hand and tried to lay as still as I could. His feet shuffled on the carpet as he got closer to my bed. What would he do to me? I gulped, feeling his presence right behind me. The covers were then thrown from my body, and a hand grabbed my shoulder. I screamed and sat upright, swatting my hands at my attacker.

"Alice! Chill! It's Dan! It's Dan!" I froze. "Dan? Why the hell did you pick my damn lock! You couldn't just knock on the door and say it was you! Do you know how scared I was! I thought you were Josh!" Dan placed a hand over my mouth to make me be quiet. "Shush! We don't want to draw attention to us." I yanked his hand from my face. _I swear if another person puts their filthy hands on my mouth again._

"Why are you in here, Dan?" He said in a hushed voice, "It may be the best interest if we all sleep in the same room or closer to each other. I'm not talking about in the same bed or anything. I just mean something like we take turns standing guard over the other two that are sleeping." I raised an eyebrow at him. "Like taking shifts?" Dan nodded his head. It gave us the best chance of knowing if Josh was going to come after us or not. "But Dan, what if this is what he wants us to do? Stay up all night so we'll be tired and worn out then make his move. We could be walking right into his trap." Dan laughed.

"Come on, Alice. Josh isn't stupid, but he isn't that smart to think up something like that." I bit my lip and said, "I suppose you're right, Dan. Hey, where's Nolan?" A hand waved in the doorway and Dan said, "He's standing guard outside to look out for Josh." Nolan popped his head in the doorway and said, "Hey Alice! Sorry if we scared you." I smiled and looked at Dan when I said, "It's no big deal, Nolan. My heart rate has finally returned to normal."

Dan scratched the back of his head and said, "So, what do ya think? Wanna bunk in the same room and take shifts as look out? We could take three hour intervals. Or less if you want." I nodded my head and climbed out from my bed.

_Shun_

My observers above me had finally left from their little room to take a break. I was starting to wonder if they ever slept. It was my chance to see how strong I had gotten since they gave me the IV fluids. I sat up easily, and placed my bare feet on the floor. The tile was ice cold. Once I felt they were firmly placed, I stood on my legs. They were shaking under my weight, and I lost my balance and grabbed onto the metal cart next to me. I leaned against it and turned it into a crutch to get back to my bed.

It was obvious that my body hadn't gotten all of my strength back. I felt something sharp stabbing into my hand, and I lifted it from the metal cart. A scalpel that was placed on there had stuck me in my hand, and blood was running from the wound. I took the sharp object out of my hand, and I watched as the cut started to heal. That antidote was doing what it was meant to. It was restoring anything that was damaged or dead. I could slice up my arm however much I wanted, and the antidote would heal up the gashes. I was amazed, but wondered how long this would work. I looked back over my hand.

There wasn't even a scar left behind. If only I was able to get up on my own, I'd try and make a break for it. I then realized something. I wasn't weak because of the antidote taking a toll on my body, even though it was part of it. No. I was weak cause they had been injected something else in me to keep me bedridden until they were done with me. I had to figure out what it was so I could put an end to it. My eyes fell on the IV line in my arm. I was feeling weak before they put that it, so I eliminated that.

I started to rethink my theory. Nobody had been in here everyday to inject something in me. I sighed, realizing that that was what I wanted the case to be. I tilted my head up to the mirror on the ceiling, and saw myself once again. I still looked sick, even though I felt fine. My skin complexion was still pale, and my eyes were still dark. If I was surviving the antidote, then why did I still look deathly ill when I felt fine? I was startled by gunshots from the observing room. I looked up there and saw one of the guys in lab coats holding a hand pistol, and shooting for a zombie. He was a horrible shot, and the zombie bite down on his arm.

Blood splattered against the window as they disappeared out of sight. I kept still, when a hand came up and slammed against the window. Attached to it was the lab guy who was just bitten. Half of his face was eaten away, and you could see the bones of his face. He milky eyes looked right down at me, and he started biting at the glass. More piled into the room; all wearing lab coats. Here I was now, trapped in my bed with an experimental antidote that could kill me at any moment. At least there was no way they could get into this room, but there was only one way for me to get out.

I would die in this room before they could get to me. I looked back up at the mirror, and saw something I didn't see before. There was an air vent that blended in with the mirror. The roof was a good twenty feet high, and in my weakened state that would be a large feat. It was the only chance I had to get out of there though. I put myself to work by tying bed sheets and blankets together and finding something to weigh down one end. I swung it up there and hit the vent with the weighted end. I dropped open and showed me a way out. Now al I had to do was get up there. Easier said then done, but you don't know what you can do till you try.

I balanced myself onto my legs, and used my ninja skills and used to wall to push me up to the vent. My hands just did grab the opening, and I was left dangling. My muscles shook as they strained to pull myself into the air duct. I finally got myself into the duct, and laid down on the freezing metal. I was panting as if I had just ran around the world. I pulled the rest of my body into the duct and closed the vent. Those things weren't smart enough to climb something and get into the air vent system.

I got on my hands and knees and crawled through the metal tunnel. Every now and then the metal would pop under my weight. I knew I was drawing attention to myself, but kept moving. The sooner I got out of there, the better. I would look down through the grids of other vents to see where I was at. I knew the lab portion was underground, so I had to try and move upward. I was growing tired, and started to think about how I'd get away from this place if I did find my way out. I wouldn't be able to outrun those things in my condition. I was surprised I had even crawled this far. My answers were solved when I looked down into another vent. It was an underground garage, filled with every kind of vehicle imaginable.

I looked through the grid for any unwelcome guests. I didn't see any, and pushed open the vent. I went feet first, and dropped onto the floor. My body slapped against the hard, cold concrete. I wasn't able to get to my feet, and pulled myself to the closest car I could manage. The door was unlocked, and I pulled myself into the driver's seat. I slammed the door shut and locked it, then leaned back into the seat. I checked and saw the keys were in the car.

I finally let out a sigh of relief when a blood covered hand slammed against the window. I screamed when I looked down on the floor and saw half of a body clawing at the side of the car. There had to be another running around here. The one who ate this poor soul. I turned the key and cranked the car and backed it into the underground garage system. It was like that of a hospital, but a lot less confusing. I drove uphill, and stopped when I saw a large metal sliding door.

On it were the words _Weapon Storage._ It couldn't hurt to stock up, but I'd have to work quick. I rammed the car into the metal door, and it collapsed from the impacted. I was then faced with hundreds of guns and knives. But most of all, in the very back was my sword and whip chain. I grinned, knowing that those two things would be the first I took back with me.

Still unable to walk, I got out of the car and crawled on my hands and knees; scooping up the occasional gun as I approached my weapons. I finally got to them and swiped them up in my hands and smiled. _Man I missed these._ I quickly ran back to the car, and tossed the weapons I had scrounged up into the passenger seat.

I backed the car from the storage unit and continued going up to the exit. I finally saw it, and it was a huge metal door like the one to the weapons storage. I hit the gas and rammed through that door the same way. Now, I was driving out of there like a bat out of hell.

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><p>well, that's all for tonight. there may be an upload later tomorrow, but i'm not sure. oh well, you'll find out. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	16. Running From Truth

_Shun_

I flew down the streets, not paying any mind to a few stray zombies stumbling around. They didn't pay any mind to me either. I had to drive by Murucho's to see if the place had been overrun. If it had, then I knew nobody in there would have survived unless they got the jet up and running. The street started to become fuzzy, and I had trouble keeping my hands on the steering wheel. Something wasn't right. Was the antidote finally killing me after my escape? I shook my head. _No. I have to at least make it to Murucho's. I have to know if they made it out of there._

I tried my best to keep my focus on the disappearing street ahead of me. The car would occasionally swerve when I lost my grip on the wheel. My breaths were just as shaky as my hands. I had just a few more miles till I reached my destination. I could even make out the shape of the building towering over others that were rapidly crumbling away. I turned onto the street where the building was, and saw it was completely abandoned.

When I had left, the streets had been flooded with zombies, now it was empty. I slowed the car to the front of the building. The front doors and windows still looked intact, so they didn't bust into there and eat anyone. But that didn't explain where they went. When I looked up, I could make out the shape of the jet. They still hadn't gotten up there and worked on it.

I started to think maybe the zombies on the upper floors had overpowered them and there was nobody left inside. I didn't want to take the chance of opening up that door to see either. I placed my hand on my stomach. I was starting to feel sicker every minute. Why though? Was it because I left that lab? Or was the antidote really killing me now after all of that hell I went through. The door opened slowly, and one of the maids poked her head out. She was taking a huge risk, but I knew somebody had seen my car. Her eyes fell on me, and I heard her yell out, "Kato! It's Shun! Hurry!"

I wanted to tell her not to yell, but I knew she couldn't hear me from inside the car. I opened the door and slammed it shut and leaned against the window. Kato and that maid ran out into the street and to me. Kato put my arm around his shoulder and I told him, "Weapons. I have weapons in the car. Get them out." The maid ran over to the other door and pulled out the weapons I had swiped from the underground lab. They hurried me inside before anything could come our way or know we were there. Kato helped me over to a couch in one of the sitting rooms, and I laid back.

I asked him, "How did you guys know it was me out there?" The maid ran off, probably to tell the others I was here and alive. Kato stayed though and looked me over for bites. "We didn't. We saw a car drive up, and that was it. When Isabel called out and said it was you, I ran as fast as I could to see if she was right. We all honestly thought you were dead." I smiled. _Yeah. I did too._ "You seem severely dehydrated. Once I'm done checking for bites I'll go and get you some water." I grabbed his hand before he could check my other arm and narrowed my eyes at him.

"I haven't been bitten since I was taken away." He didn't seem to believe me. _I must still look pretty sick._ He nodded his head and ran off to where the kitchen was and returned with a bottle of water. I sat up on the couch and opened the bottle. I almost killed the entire thing, and when I took the bottle from my lips there was only a little left. "Thank you, Kato."

I couldn't stand to sit up anymore, and laid back down. I did feel better after that water though, but still felt sick. The maid ran into the room, and the others were right behind her. I immediately saw Dan and Alice. Their eyes were wide with shock to see that I was alive. Alice ran over to me, while Dan stood there staring.

_Dan_

I was shocked to see how weak and sick Shun looked, but he was alive and right in front of us. I walked over towards him and asked, "What did they do to you?" He weakly chuckled. I could see he had been to hell and back. "Don't worry about me. But your wish came true. The one where you wanted their own creations to rip them to shreds. It happened. Those things broke into the lab. Killed every last one of them." I still couldn't believe Shun made it out of there. I asked him, "Were you bitten? Cause you look like one of those things." He smiled and said, "Nope. Never bitten." I didn't get it. Shun looked like crap and hadn't been bitten by a single zombie.

He said, "This is the effects of their latest antidote. I was subject 388." _388. I didn't think that many people had made it. Well, they were killed by being used as a guinea pig, but they made it away from those zombies._ I asked him, "What is the antidote supposed to even do?" Shun was panting, and looked on the verge of passing out. He didn't answer me.

"Shun. Hey, Shun. Stay with us buddy." He shook his head, as if waking himself up. "Sorry. I'm just tired. It's supposed to restore dead or damaged skin and things like that. It doesn't turn the zombies back into people though. It only works once you've been infected and before you turn." Alice had moved next to me, and couldn't seem to find any words. I said, "But Shun, you haven't been bitten. So how did they know if the antidote was working?"

He pulled up his sleeve and pointed to a little red dot. "They injected the virus into me. Along with God knows what else." Those people went to the greatest lengths to test their antidote. I could see that right in front of me. Before I could ask another question, Kato said, "Ok. Let's allow Shun to rest. We can ask him questions later afterwards. Dan, could you help me get him into one of the rooms?" I nodded my head and helped Shun to his feet. We both had one of his arms draped over our shoulders and we walked him into the rooms.

His skin was cold though, but hot at the same time. It was as if a dead body were running a fever. It didn't make sense though. We were in front of his room and he told us, "Thanks. I think I can probably manage from here." That was the first time I saw his eyes. They weren't amber colored, but dark and almost dead looking. Was it possible that the antidote was only working halfway?

The minute we let go of him, he almost fell. Kato and I both caught him. "Maybe I can't manage it from here." I hated seeing my friend so weak. We finally got him to the bed, and he laid down like he had on the couch. Kato left out of the room first, and I followed shortly after him.

I thought about something; Josh. Now that Shun was beck, even though he was weak, he was necessarily the leader again. I knew Josh wouldn't waste anytime, but with the way Shun was looking I doubted he'd eve do anything. _Josh will probably let Shun die from that antidote instead._ I shook my head. Everything was falling apart so quickly.

_Alice_

I was glad to see Shun was back and alive, but he didn't look well at all. Whatever all went on in that lab, couldn't of been fun. Dan and Kato walked back into the room. I asked them, "How's he doing?" Dan plopped down on a couch and looked tired. "I don't know. He acts like he's feeling fine, but everything else just doesn't add up with it. I mean, he talks like he's fine, but he doesn't look it at all." I turned my eyes to the corner of the room. Josh had his fixed on me and Dan. I thought about something.

I whispered to Dan, "Where's Nolan?" He noticed that the small boy was missing as well. He whispered back to me, "I'm going to go and check the rooms for him, but I think Josh did something." Dan walked upstairs without saying anything. I was praying that Josh hadn't killed Nolan, but deep down I knew he probably had. I kept my eyes on Josh to make sure he didn't stalk off after Dan, but he just stayed put. Dan walked back into the room, and seemed to be saddened. He told us, "Nolan's dead."

I saw a sly grin cross Josh's face, then disappear. Somebody asked, "What happened? Did he get attacked by a zombie?" Dan held out his hand and held an empty pill bottle. "Overdose. Looks like he killed himself." Dan was continuing on with Josh's game. We both know that Nolan would never kill himself. Josh took the bottle from Dan's hand and looked at it.

"I guess poor little Nolan had some demons he just couldn't live with." I wanted nothing more to just slap a hand across his face, but I knew I had to play along as somebody who believed that Nolan did kill himself. I shook my head and walked out of the room and into the sitting room upstairs. I knew I shouldn't of broken off from the group. Not with Josh roaming around. But I just couldn't bare to be in that room with someone who just killed somebody for no real reason. I stood in front of the window and looked out over into the horizon. I wondered how many other survivors there were. I sighed.

"What are you looking at, Alice?" I knew that voice, and turned and saw Josh there. "What do you want, Josh?" I was backed against the wall. "Oh, nothing much. Just to teach you a lesson for ruining my plans on killing Kuso." There was a animalistic growl in his voice. I couldn't help but gulp as he got closer to me. His hand swung for my head, and I ducked and dove under his legs and scrambled to get up and get to somewhere safer. His hand grabbed the back of my shirt and yanked me to the ground. "Be still! You're already in deep shit with me! Don't make this any worse than it should be."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm growing tired of your crap!" I kicked my foot right into the side of his knee and heard it snap. Josh fell to the ground and screamed out in agony. I stepped back a few feet from him, heart racing from adrenaline. I didn't think I had enough strength to break his leg. The others ran into the room and saw Josh laying on the floor holding his leg, and me standing next to him. Kato asked, "What happened?" Josh's eyes flashed up at me and he yelled, "That little bitch broke my damn leg! She's a traitor! She'll do anything to make sure she lives!" I turned to the others. They couldn't believe what he had just said. They couldn't. It was so ludicrous.

I told them, "No! He was the one trying to hurt me!" Dan stepped forward and said, "Alice is telling the truth. We didn't tell you all earlier, but Josh tried to kill me. And he's the one who actually killed Nolan." We could tell them the truth now that Josh couldn't get up and do anything about it. "What? You can't believe that I'd actually tried to kill Dan and Nolan!"

I could see the others didn't know what to believe. Kato said, "We'll straighten this out in the morning. Right now let's get his leg wrapped up and him into a bed." Two of the guys helped carry Josh out of the room to be treated, and I couldn't stand anymore. I fell to my hands and knees and heaved a sigh of relief that he was out of the room. Dan walked over to me and patted my back. I told him, "I'll be happy when all of this is over."

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><p>well, there will be more uploads today. plans got cancelled today. yay. just gotta rest the old thinker. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	17. Climbing To The Top

_Alice_

Even though I knew that Josh couldn't hurt us, I had problems falling asleep that night. Maybe my mind was too focused on Shun. We had just gotten him back, and those people did so much damage to him. I left out of my room and walked down the hall to Shun's. He was deep asleep in his bed, and didn't even know that I walked in there. His hair was splayed out on his face and pillow. I sighed. "Shun." I didn't think I had said his name that loud, but his eyes slowly opened up and he turned to face me. I blinked my eyes and said, "Sorry if I woke you up." He smiled. "Don't worry about it." I sat down next to him on the side of the bed. He looked at my face and frowned. "Where'd you get those bruises from?"

He rubbed the bruise on my face with his thumb, and I held his hand to my face with his. "It's nothing." I didn't want him to stress out over the truth. Not with his condition. Shun gave me a look that meant he didn't believe what I was saying, then he sighed. "If you say so." He took his hand from my face and put it back at his side. "So, Nolan's dead huh?" I stopped and looked at him.

"How did you know?" He looked at me and said, "I heard all that yelling downstairs. Why didn't you just tell me that Josh was the one that hurt you?" I should of known better than to try and lie to Shun. He was one of the best in figuring out when somebody wasn't being honest. "I didn't want you to stress yourself out. It doesn't matter now. Everyone knows that Josh is a traitor."

He sighed and closed his eyes. "Josh was always a little off in the head. Even I saw that. But I never could of imagined that he'd kill Nolan, try and kill Dan, or even hurt you. All of that makes me wish that I was here to stop all of that." I felt sorry for him. He was blaming himself for something that wasn't necessarily his fault. Yeah, if he were here the Josh wouldn't of tried to kill Dan.

But that might not of stopped him from killing Nolan or hurting me. "Why did you run off anyway." I saw behind his eyes that I had struck a sore spot. "After I had shot that guy, I started to think that I had spent all I was good for and that I was turning into a threat to you guys. That I was losing control over myself. So I left to hopefully give you guys a better shot at making it. The more I thought about it later on though, I found flaws in my plan. I wasn't thinking straight when I did what I did, and all of us had paid for it in some way or form." I smiled sadly. Even in his breakdown, he was thinking about our safety. "You know, a day didn't go by that I wondered if you were alive or not, Shun."

He smiled at me and said, "Same thing here. I wondered everyday if those zombies had broken into the building, or the ones above us had broken free and gotten to you guys." He moved over, and I laid down in the little space he had made for me. I laid my head on his chest, and heard his heartbeat. It was much too slow to be normal. "Alice, if this thing is killing me, I promise I'm going to fight it as long as I can." That meant everything to me. Him just laying there was proof that he would fight till the end.

Whenever I thought about this being real, me laying next to Shun, I couldn't help but have a little jump in my chest. "So, how many floors are left till they get to the jet?" I almost fell off, but moved closer to Shun from the edge of the bed. I told him, "Not many. Two or three. They've been working hard to get to that jet." When Shun didn't say anything, I turned to look at him. He had closed his eyes and looked like he had fallen asleep again. "Shun. Did you hear me?"

He opened his eyes back up and said, "Yeah. I was just resting my eyes. So, their pretty close, huh?" I nodded my head. "Well, that's good. How many people have died since I've been gone? Minus Nolan of course." I did the numbers in my head. "Maybe three or four. I'm not sure. Dan never gave us the death report after going upstairs." I shivered and Shun looked down at me. "You getting cold?" I nodded my head and Shun pulled some of the blankets over me. I thanked him as I felt his body heat on the covers. "Hey, Shun." I turned to face him again, and saw he was falling asleep once more. I didn't want to wake him, so I didn't say anything else.

_Dan_

I could sleep soundly now without worrying that a power hungry maniac would kill me in my sleep. We all agreed we'd figure out what to do with Josh in the morning. I woke up right as the sun was rising, and climbed out from my bed. I walked down into the dining room and saw they had propped Josh's leg up on another chair and had a makeshift splint. I smiled.

Alice had done a number on him. I saw Alice sitting down in her seat. Of course Shun was still upstairs in his bed sleeping. Kato had fixed another plate and walked upstairs to give it to Shun. He needed to get his strength up. Today would be our last day of clearing out floors. With only a few left till we got to the roof, we could easily get the job done. The only problem was that the team had gotten a lot smaller. We had lost at least three people to zombies, Nolan, and Josh with his broken leg.

I wished that Shun was well enough to help us out, but that wasn't going to happen. The two or three people left in the team, not including me, gathered our weapons and prepped ourselves for our final run. I took Shun's sword along with my metal bar. _I'm sure he won't mind._

We sat in the hallway, and I stared at the door where Josh had thrown me into and left me for dead. They were probably still on the other side, so we had to be ready for whatever came at us. I slowly reached for the knob, and swung the door open. Two zombies can tumbling out, and we didn't hesitate to crush in their skulls before they could get up. I knew there were more up the stairs.

_Shun_

I woke up and saw Alice had left my side. _She probably went to get something to eat._ I smelled food myself, and saw a plate placed on the nightstand next to me. I smiled. _Thanks, Kato._ I ate the food, knowing it would help me regain my strength. I then tried to stand up again. I didn't lose my balance like I had in the lab, although my legs were still a little wobbly. I smiled, already feeling stronger.

Then again, I started feeling stronger back in that lab and ended up going downhill quickly. Maybe I had just exerted myself too much and used up any energy I had obtained. I also put in the variable that I hadn't had any real food or water for days while I was in there. I slowly walked out of my room and down the hallway, then into the dining room where I smelled the rest of the food. Alice was the first to see me walk into the room. "Shun! You're up!" I smiled.

"Well of course. I told you I'd fight this thing till the end, right?" Kato looked at me and said, "You're looking much better than you were yesterday." I walked over to where Alice was sitting at the table, and sat down next to her. I asked them, "Where's Dan and the others?" I had my guess, but I wanted to make sure. Alice told me, "They went to clear out the last few floors. We should finally reach the jet today." I looked over at where my sword and whip chain were. Or should I say where my sword _used _to be next to my whip chain.

"I take it Dan borrowed my sword." I rolled my eyes. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood knowing that they would be safe in the building and have access to the jet. And soon the jet would be repaired by Kato and we would be home free. I turned to Kato and asked, "How much repair is left on the jet anyway?" He was picking up empty plates and said, "Well, before all hell broke loose, I was halfway done. It should only take me a day or so to finish it up." I

t sounded good to me. A few more days and we'd be on our way to Moscow. Or what might be left of Moscow. None of us really knew how far and badly the virus had spread. "What are y'all going to do with me?" We all turned to see Josh raise and eyebrow and crossing his arms. I looked at the poorly made splint on his leg. _That's my girl._

I said, "What is there to do about you? I saw we leave your ass here after what you've done." His eyes widened. "You can't do that!" I smiled and stood up and walked over towards him. "And where does it say we can't leave you here? There aren't any rules saying we can't. Beside, last time I checked you tried to kill my best friend, killed Nolan, and hurt Alice.

I have every right to throw you sorry ass out into those streets as live bait." I was right up in his face as I said the last part, and he tried to hold his gaze but couldn't hide how intimidated he was. Even when I was weak, I could still be much more threatening than him. He didn't say anything, and I walked back over to where I was sitting.

"That's what I thought. You're nothing more than a sorry piece of shit, Josh. Even you know that." He wouldn't face anybody, and I knew he felt defeated. He was just lucky that I wasn't around when he did hurt Alice, or he wouldn't be sitting there right then. I looked out one of the high placed windows. It seemed like a nice day outside. Maybe things were turning around for us.

_Dan_

I had just killed the last one. The very last one. Now all we had to do was check out the roof, and then we could head back downstairs and deliver the news so Kato could repair the jet. The steel door to the landing pad was locked. The funny thing was, we were told it shouldn't of been locked. That meant either somebody in the building was locking something out, or someone on the roof was trying to keep something in.

I dug into my pocket for the key Kato had given me in case the door was locked. _Ah. Good old Kato. You can always count on him._ I stuck the key into the door and pushed the handle down. Me and my team went up the short staircase and onto the roof. All of us were ready for whatever might jump out. The roof looked abandoned.

Somebody behind me said, "Hey, Dan. Come check this out." I walked over to where they were pointing. Behind an air-conditioning unit, were five bodies. Most of the skin on the bodies had rotted away. I knelt down and got a closer look. They reeked of death and decay. I told my team, Looks like we found out why the door was locked. Guess they got caught out here and died. Go check the jet for more bodies. Odds are if these five were out here, somebody may of turned the jet into a shelter."

I walked with my team, and one of them opened the door to the jet. It looked empty as we climbed up the little steps that popped out when you opened the door. We stepped into the jet and checked all of the rooms. Everything was jus like it was the last time we had flown in it. I smiled and told the others, "Let's go downstairs and give them the ok."

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><p>i had to redo the chapter cause somebody pointed out i failed epically. -.- my bad. -turns red at fail- read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	18. Break In

_Shun_

Dan and his team that used to be mine, ran down the stairs with huge smiles on their faces. Dan put his two thumbs up and said, "Every floor is clear. We can start working on the jet!" We all looked at each other smiling. We would be getting out of here soon. I couldn't help but hug Alice. We had made it this far, and we'd make it through this thing one way or another.

The staff members were standing in a group talking about our new found safety. This was probably a bigger deal for them than us. Either way, we were all grateful we had access to the jet and upper floors. Dan walked over to Kato and said, "While the jet is being repaired the rest of us will go and gather up as many supplies as possible. Sound good to you, Kato?" He bowed to Dan and said, "I'll start working on the jet immediately." Kato rounded up some of the younger staff to help him, and walked up the stairs to the landing pad on the roof.

Alice and I walked up to the roof a few hours later, and saw tools and engine pieces scattered around. Kato and the other staff were covered in motor oil and dirt. I whispered over to Alice, "I thought half of the repairs were already done. It looks like they're putting in a new engine." She shrugged her shoulders and looked around on the roof. She walked around, just to observe the area.

I turned my head and saw something behind an AC unit. I raised an eyebrow and walked over to what I had seen, and my eyes widened when I saw the five decayed bodies. I knew they hadn't been zombies because they had no bites or gashes in the head where they had been killed. They were just people trapped in the wrong portion of the building. Something that was shining caught my eye. I looked and saw something in one of the dead corpse's hands.

When I removed it, I saw it was an empty syringe. _Why would they have this?_ I rolled it over and saw a number stamped on it. "Vial 346." Those people hadn't been stuck up here and starving. Those lab people saw them up here and handed them one of their previous antidotes. I figured the five people that were up here were promised a working antidote, and got skrewed. I shook my head and walked away. I walked over next to Alice and whispered to her, "Don't go behind that AC unit. Just warning you."

She was about to look that way, but I stopped her before she could see anything. "Trust me. You're better off if you don't look over there." Alice nodded her head and we walked over to the jet. Kato was up on a tall ladder and working on something behind a steel door. I called up to him, "Hey, Kato! How's it going up there!" He leaned a little from behind the door and gave a thumbs up to me. I smiled, happy that everything was going smoothly. Dan soon joined us on the roof and hit me in my back.

"Hey, buddy! What's up?" I rubbed my back where he had hit me and turned to face him. "What did you do with my sword anyway, Dan?" Alice was behind me trying not to laugh. "Don't worry. I put it back next to that whip chain thingy." I rolled my eyes. I didn't like the idea of Dan using that sword when he had no experience, but I was happy he left that whip chain alone.

Kato stepped down the rungs of the ladder and wiped his hands on an oil covered rag. He said, "Almost done. A few more adjustments here and there and we're ready to depart." It was hard to believe we were almost safe. Dan jumped into the air and said, "Hey! How about we celebrate before leaving? Like a getting away from hell party?"

I stared at him and said, "That's actually not a bad idea. It would give us a chance to actually have a little fun." Dan smiled and ran towards the door that led back to the building. "I'll go tell the others about my idea. Kato, you gunna join our party?" Kato was drinking from a water bottle and put the cap back on. "I think I'll continue working on the jet. Thank you for the offer though." Dan shrugged and disappeared down the staircase. I turned to Alice and smiled. "Wanna go back downstairs and get out of this heat?" She smiled and nodded her head.

_Alice_

Dan was running back and forth from person to person telling him of the idea of a party. I didn't see any harm in it. We needed a way to unwind after everything we had been through. Shun was shaking his head in shame as he watched Dan make an idiot of himself. This was one of Dan's many different sides. When Shun was gone and Dan had to step up, he was in full-on leader mode. Now that Shun was back, he had returned to being…Well, just Dan. And nobody could do Dan as good as Dan could.

I turned and saw Josh was still on the couch with his leg propped up. I told Shun, "I'll be right back." He nodded and I walked over to where Josh was sitting. I asked him, "How's it feel now that karma has kicked your ass?" His eyes narrowed at me. "Karma had nothing to do with this. I wasn't paying attention and you got in a lucky shot." This had to be one of the most obnoxious people I had ever met in my life.

"Is there ever a time you're not an ass?" He then grinned and told me, "Just you wait. Your little friend karma is going to pay all of you a visit. I promise that." I felt my eyes widen, and I walked away from him. I didn't know what he may have been plotting, but I didn't like the way he informed me of it. I walked over to Shun, who was leaning against the wall and still watching his spazing friend.

"Shun, I think we need to keep an eye on Josh. I believe he's planning something against us." Shun half smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Alice, his leg is busted. Even if he is plotting something he can't make it happen." I looked back at Josh. "Maybe you're right, Shun. I guess my mind is just working overtime." He wrapped an arm around me and brought me close to him.

"Maybe this party is just what you need to relax. Before that long flight to Moscow." Dan jumped in front of us, and startled me. "Hey, Shun. Could you help me with gathering up supplies for the trip?" He sighed and said, "Sure. You wanna help out, Alice?" I didn't really want to. I was more concerned with keeping my eyes on Josh to make sure he wasn't up to anything. "Yeah. I guess I'll help. What do you need done?" Dan led me and Shun into the kitchen and showed us towers and towers of cardboard boxes. "The maids got together all the stuff. We just need to get them up to the jet. Watch out though, some of them are pretty heavy." Me and Shun exchanged glances and started grabbing boxes.

_Shun_

After an hour or so of carrying a seemingly endless amount of boxes up God knows how many stairs, we loaded the very last one into the jet. The three of us were bent over panting. _If the maids loaded those damn things, why couldn't they help carry them?_ Dan fell onto his back and laid himself out. I told him, "Dan, get up. You're making the birds think you're dying." I pointed above us at a flock of crows or ravens that were circling the roof. They were probably there for the five dead antidote victims. _I'm sure those things have been eating good._

Kato was up on the ladder again when we heard him say, "One more turn and, done! We're all set to go!" He climbed down and the three of us clapped for him. Dan walked up to him and asked, "So, now that you're done are you going to come and celebrate with us?" Kato shook his head and told us, "I'm going to stay up here and run a few more checks on the engine." Dan shrugged and we started to walk back inside the building. Once we were back in the sitting room, I sat on one of the couches and rested my tired legs.

I asked Dan, "So, how exactly are you planning this party goes anyway?" Dan stopped and thought for a minute. "I don't really know." I shook my head and face palmed. "Dan, you're a failure." My friend smiled and said, "I'll figure something out." I couldn't help but smile. Everything seemed to be returning to some stage of normal. Dan ran off into another room, but poked his head out the door and said to us, "Don't you guys worry. I'm going to have something thrown together in no time! I'll let you know when everything's done!"

I could hear him running down the stairs and yelling his plan to somebody else. Alice then said, "I'm still paranoid about what Josh said to me. I just can't shake the feeling that he's really going to do something." I sighed. "Alice, look at it like this. All of his previous plans have failed. Well, except for Nolan. Even if he does have something, he can't put it into action." Dan's loud voice yelled for us from downstairs. "Hey! Everything's set!" I raised an eyebrow and looked at Alice.

_That was quick._ Alice and I walked down the stairs to see what Dan had thrown together in only a few minutes, when a blood curdling scream sounded from the main hall. "Alice, stay here! No matter what." She nodded her head and I took off down the rest of the stairs. _Please let it just be an accident. Please._ Everyone who was downstairs looked horrified as they all leaned against the door that led into the main hall. There was a banging on the other side.

My eyes found Dan trying to tie something around the handles to keep whatever was on the other side out. "Dan! What's going on!" He was fumbling with a nylon rope, and couldn't get it to knot. I took the rope and loosely double knotted it. He was shaking and panting as he spoke. "Josh…..He opened the doors and lured every zombie within earshot to this place. There has to be a hundred in that room." I growled. _Alice was right. And I just brushed it off like no big deal!_ The doors actually bent at the sheer force of the zombies behind it. I turned back to Dan. "Where is that son of a bitch that let these things in here?"

Dan turned to the door and said, "He left himself in there and was saying how it was worth it for him to die if it meant all of us would too…Bastard." I was biting my lip as I tried to think up a plan under so much stress. I felt the little light bulb flip on over my head. "Dan! The jet! Kato has it running, remember?" The door was now being slammed into on the other side from piles of zombies stacking up behind it.

Dan pushed his hands against the door and helped the others hold it shut. "We can't just leave this door though! The minute we let go, they're going to flood into this place!" I couldn't think straight. There was too much going on at once. My eyes found a leftover empty gas can. I remembered they siphoned out gas from anything they could find for the jet. "Dan! How many cans of gas did we get?"

He stared at me as if I couldn't find something better to ask at a time like this. "I don't know. Eight or ten at the most. Why?" I didn't answer his question, and darted up to the roof. Kato was oiling the landing gear when I swung open the door. He jumped from the sound, and dropped what he was doing. "What's going on?" I frantically looked around the roof and saw the ten gas filled cans.

I darted for them and set them next to the door. I yelled back to Kato, "No time to explain! Get the jet cranked up and ready to take off!" I was running as fast as my legs could take me, when I shot past Alice. I skidded to a halt, and quickly told her, "Go up to the jet! Now!"

She was about to say something and I snapped at her, "Go!" Alice turned and ran up the stairs I had just run down from. I finally got back to where the others were, and saw that the door wouldn't hold much longer. The hinges were bending, and the door was actually moved from the frame slightly. I yelled at Dan, "Let go of the door and run like hell to the roof!" He looked at me, and back at the door. It was all about timing now.

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><p>well, sorry for being late. i had a project. : i had almost finished this yesterday, but it wasnt quite done. o.o well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	19. Run Run As Fast As You Can

_Shun_

Dan and the others let go of the door, and I froze as I saw the hundreds of zombies starting to take the opportunity at the unblocked door. The rope I had tied around the knobs, carelessly fell off like they had never been tied. Dan grabbed my arm and began dragging me. When I snapped out of my thoughts, and took my arm from Dan and started running.

There were screams behind us that belonged to the slower and older staff. I knew they wouldn't last long once that door was opened. None of us turned back. Our goal was to hurry and make it to the roof. Hopefully Kato had the jet cranked up and ready to take off the minute we got on there. Dan and I were in front of everyone else. I suddenly thought of an old saying, and didn't like how heartless it was at the time. _I don't have to outrun them, I just have to outrun you._

There wasn't much outrunning Dan though. For one, the halls were narrow and slowed all of us down as we tried to push our ways through. And two, when Dan needed to, he could run as fast as me. We had only two more floors till the roof, and I took a quick glance back. The last person behind us, had just been taken down. I turned back around, not wanting to watch as they ripped that person to shreds. I looked down at Dan's jacket pocket. I knew what was in there.

It was a Zippo lighter. Before we opened the door, I explained my idea. We would run up to the roof, and I would pour the gas cans I had placed next to the door all over to roof. Once we were up in the air, one of us would flip open the lighter and toss it onto the gas covered roof and set the building on fire. We were now running to the steel door that led to the landing pad, and I knew it was action time.

I tried to close the door back, but the hoard that was after us was only a few feet from us. They easily got through the open door and stumbled up the concrete steps. Dan cleared the doorway first and made a mad dash for the jet. Lucky for us, the jet was running. I took off the caps and dowsed the roof with the gas in one fluid motion. I made sure I didn't get any on me, or else when the lighter ignited I might of caught on fire as well.

I had caught up with Dan, and the two of us were running about the same speed. But I was going slightly faster. I made it to the open door of the jet first, and stood in the doorway and held my hand out for Dan to grab.

When he had a hold of it, I yelled to Kato, "Fly! Go!" The jet started to lift from the platform, and it wasn't more that five feet from it when the first zombie through the door grabbed Dan's leg and bit down on his calf muscle. I yelled back at Kato, "Stop! Don't go any higher!" He floated the jet right there, and the zombie fell from Dan's leg, revealing the bite wound he had made.

Dan was clenching his teeth from the pain, and almost let go of my hand. I held on tighter. "Dan, just hold on!" He was shaking his head, then dug into his jacket pocket and threw me the Zippo lighter. "I don't stand a chance if I go with you guys. And if I do go, then you'll just have to kill me anyway. Just let go and continue with the plan." The rest of the zombies were reaching for Dan, but he was just out of their reach. It looked like when you teased a dog with a toy or treat.

I saw in Dan's eyes that he knew this was what had to be done. Even if nobody wanted it to happen like this. Our hair whipped in the wind of the engines that were on both sides of the jet, reminding me that we were in the air. I asked him once more, "Are you sure? We could try and find another antidote in that lab before the virus turns you. I'm sure that made extras."

Dan closed his eyes and shook his head. "No. I'd rather be eaten than eat innocent people." I nodded my head, and let go of my friend's hand. The zombies moved out of the way as he landed onto the roof. They then turned their attention to Dan. He stuck his hands up in defense, and I lost sight of him in the hoard. All I could see was his hand stuck in the air, and it then slowly disappeared into the living dead bodies. I tightened my hand around the lighter, and flipped it open.

A little flame popped up, and in one fluent motion, I tossed it onto the gas soaked roof. The second it hit the ground, I heard the whoosh of the flames starting, and slammed the door of the jet shut. The explosion sounded, and the shock hit the jet and knocked against the metal.

I lost my footing and fell to the floor as the jet rocked from the blow. I saw Alice had fallen on the floor as well. I yelled back up at Kato, "Go! Before this damn thing catches on fire!" He got back the control over the jet, and steadied the aircraft and headed in the direction of Moscow, Russia.

_Alice_

I regained my balance, and looked at Shun as he did the same. He was dusting off his clothes when I asked, "What the hell was that?" He turned and looked out one of the jet's windows. I walked over next to him and saw the roof and half of Murucho's house on fire and smoke floating into the atmosphere. _That answers that. _I noticed it was too quiet, and saw Dan wasn't anywhere in the main cabin. And neither was anyone else in the building that was now on fire. I figured I had missed something will I was in the flight cabin with Kato. "Shun, what happened in there when you told me to go to the jet?"

He sighed heavily. "You were right. About Josh planning something…..He let those things into the building. They killed everyone in there. Dan and I were the only ones who made it to the roof." But Dan wasn't in the jet. Did he get left or caught in that fire? "What happened to Dan?" Shun lowered his head and I couldn't see his eyes. "Dan got bitten. He didn't want to turn into one of those things, so he opted to get eaten."

I felt my eyes get wet with tears, but didn't want Shun to see me cry. So I held them back. The building itself was out of sight from the window, but I could see the smoke rising from it clearly. I wondered how many of those things had died. It probably wasn't a big enough number to do a dent in the sheer numbers though. Cause there was like 6 billion people on the planet and I was sure ninety percent were zombies.

Shun shook his head and walked over to one of the couches and sat down. It was a good thing all the furniture was nailed down, or else it would of gone everywhere when the explosion knocked into the jet. Shun yelled to Kato, "How much longer till we get to Moscow?" Kato's voice came over the intercom system and said sadly, "We'll arrive to our destination in a little less than a day." Shun sighed and ran his hands through his black hair. He looked guilty and confused. I decided to give him some space, and walked over to another window. We weren't in Bay City anymore. By the looks of it, we were flying over Wardington. The once great city looked like it had when Naga attacked. Only ten times worse.

Tiny little dots on the ground moved slowly, and I saw every street was filled with them. The city was overrun with zombies just like Bay City. We flew over one building, and in giant red letters were the words _Help! Survivors!_ The people that were up there were waving there hands, trying to get our attention. I wanted to tell Kato to help them, when zombies poured onto the roof and started to rip them apart. Those were probably the last living people in Wardington. The jet was no longer flying over the land, and was now going over the ocean. The water rippled with orange from the setting sun on the horizon, and was a truly magnificent site.

By looking at the sun, I could see it would be dark soon. I sighed and turned from the window and saw Shun was still in the same position. I decided I had given him enough time by himself, and sat down next to him and rubbed his back. "Shun, there wasn't anything you could of done." He shook his head. "You don't get it. I was the one who let go of his hand. I know he wanted me to, but I feel like I shouldn't of done that. That I should of pulled him into this jet and took the chances of finding another antidote."

I had to come up with something quick, or Shun would be blaming himself for the rest of his life. "Shun, think about it like this. Dan was depressed since Runo was bitten, whether he showed it or not. Now, they're probably somewhere together and happy as they could possibly be." I could see it then. The two of them walking hand in hand together; both smiling.

"Maybe you're right. I wasn't ever one that believed in the eternal happiness after death crap. But I didn't believe in zombies walking in the streets either. I guess I don't know what to think nowadays. Seems like the impossible has been happening more and more everyday." I stopped rubbing his back, and moved my hand on top of his. "You want something to drink, Shun?" I thought it'd be polite to ask and try and change the subject. He nodded his head and I walked over to the boxes of supplies we had piled into the jet. Many of them were overturned from earlier, but nothing in them could break or spill open.

I found a plastic wrapped case of water, and tore a bottle out. I knew he wouldn't care less if the water was warm or cold. I kindly handed him the bottle, and he took it and twisted open the cap. I watched as he took a drink or two, then closed the bottle back up. He held it in his hands and read over the label. He said to me, "Ha. I wonder if there are any zombies running around in those 'untouched by human hands' fresh water springs."

Shun tore off the label and crumbled it up and placed it on the nailed down table in front of him. It was dark out of the jet's windows, and I made out the shape of something flying next to us. It seemed to be a goose. _I guess zombies only eat other people._ The goose broke off from next to us and descended to the ground. _Must be nice to go wherever you want and not have to worry about being eaten._

I yawned. I was tired from the day, and knew Shun had to be as well. I turned to look at him, and saw he had already fallen asleep. _Good. He needs to rest after today._ I slowly got up, being careful the not wake him, and walked over to another box and pulled out a blanket that we had packed away with the supplies. It was a thin fleece blanket that was soft to the touch.

I walked back over to the couch and stood next to Shun and unfolded the blanket. It one easy movement, I sat back next to him and covered the two of us up with the blanket. I leaned my head against his arm and closed my eyes.

_Shun_

I woke up and felt my arm tingling. I figured it had fallen asleep, but didn't know what was cutting off its circulation. I turned my head and saw Alice was sleeping against it, and was out cold. And at some point when I had fallen asleep she had covered the two of us up with a blanket. I had to admit it was warm. I leaned her slightly off of me, and lowered her down onto the couch cushions so she would be laying down flatly.

I adjusted the blanket on her and walked into the pilot's cabin. Kato had on his helmet and was still flying the jet while drinking a hot cup of coffee. I was too tired to try and figure where, when, and how he got the drink. I asked him, "How much longer do we have?"

I sat in the co-pilot seat next to his and looked out the window. By the look of the snow covered terrain, we had to be close. "Only a few more hours and we'll be at Dr. Michaels' lab." _If it's still there. _Most people in Moscow knew about his transporter, although they didn't think it would ever work. But when people get desperate, they'll do anything.

I felt angry at myself for not adding in that possibility that people ran to his lab in mass numbers and may of destroyed everything if something broke down. The isolated area looked beautiful and serene as we flew over it. You had mountains to the left, lakes to the right, and forests everywhere. If you could bare the cold nights and days, then you'd have a pretty good chance at making it. I then saw it. Dr. Michaels' lab and home. And everything looked to be intact.

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><p>well well well well. XP the story is near its ending. -everyone goes awwwww- i know, i know. but i have to get back to <em>You're Still The One.<em> I think that break from that one though has given me more ideas. well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	20. Heart Stopper

_Alice_

The jet was landing. I discovered that when it touched down, and caused my sleeping body to roll off the couch and onto the floor. I looked around the cabin frantically, trying to make sense of what was going on. Shun walked into the room and told me, "We just landed at your grandfather's lab….Why are you on the floor?" Shun walked over to me and extended his hand out for me to grab.

When I took his hand, he helped me to my feet. I didn't tell him I fell off the couch, but instead I asked, "So, is it clear outside? Or are there any zombies?" I picked the fleece blanket off of the floor and tossed it on the back of the couch. Shun told me, "I think it's pretty clear. If there were any out here, then they would already be swarming the jet to get in. But we should hurry just in case some saw us off in the distance."

Kato stepped out from the pilot's cabin, and rolled up the sleeves on his shirt. Shun asked him, "You going with us, Kato?" He nodded his head and told him, "We've made it this far and I'm not staying here on a zombie infested planet." I smiled. Kato still had some fight left in him. Shun turned the handle on the door, and opened it slowly. He stepped out first, then me, and last was Kato. All three of us were alert as deer as we searched the area for an attacker.

I saw Shun was relaxing, and knew this place was safe for the time being. There was a clicking behind me, and I turned to see Kato loading the hand pistol that Shun had found a while back. I asked him, "What are you planning to do with that?" I wanted to hit myself for asking such a stupid and feeble minded question. "Self-defense purposes of course."

I appreciated him not getting smart with me. I couldn't help that my brain was fried with everything that's happened. There was a few inches of snow on the ground, and it crunched under our feet. I could see that Shun hated the noise it was making. It could easily give us away if we weren't careful. We cleared the trees and I saw the house and lab that I had spent most of my life in.

Everything looked to be the same. Except for a few shattered windows and knocked over potted plants. I started walking towards the house, when Shun said to me quietly, "Alice, stay near us." I had lost myself for a moment, and was now aware of why we were here. Something moved past a window in the house. I stood there and looked into the window, and Shun called out to me again. I shook my head, and ran to catch up with them.

_Shun_

At the moment, I was grateful that Dr. Michaels lived in the middle of nowhere. The odds of being attacked out here were slim, and even if we were it would only be one or two at the most. Alice caught back up with us after I had to snap her out of her thoughts. We had to stay together. Now wasn't the time to get distracted and sidetracked, no matter how safe we may of felt. The lab looked just like the house; broken windows, and knocked over plants. We rounded the corner to the door, and saw it was cracked open. I made sure Kato and Alice were behind me as I pushed the door open slowly.

It creaked, and soon revealed the insides of the lab. A few computers were knocked over and laying on the ground broken. Papers were also scattered everywhere. I let Kato and Alice inside, and shut the door behind me to keep anything that came this way out. I caught the glimpse of something red, and saw the back of the door was smeared with blood and bloody handprints.

That raised a red flag in my mind. Alice yelled over to me, "Shun! The transporter still works!" I put a finger over my lips and said, "Shh! Be quiet!" All of fell silent, and you could hear the snow falling on the ground. And footsteps. Shuffling footsteps. None of us made a move as we heard the sound approach the door. There was a scratching on the other side like that of what a dog does when it wants inside. The scratching ceased. Kato said, "I'll go peer out of the window and see if its still out there."

He walked over to one of the unbroken windows, and looked out of it. A hand then burst through the glass and grabbed onto Kato's neck. The head of the monster popped through the hole in the window and bit down of neck muscle of Kato. I saw who it was. Alice screamed.

"Grandfather!" Blood squirted from Kato's neck as he flailed and tried to break free. I saw a metal handled broom in the corner of the room, and took it. I tore off the broom part and was left the metal stick. Alice was screaming at me to not kill her grandfather, but it was too late after I gave one good blow to the back of his head. Kato scrambled away from the window and looked at the limp body in horror.

Half of it was in the building, while the other was hanging outside. It started to slide into the building, and eventually fell from the window and collapsed on the tiled floor. When it hit, the body contorted into an inhuman position and remained there.

Alice had her hand covering her mouth and tears were rolling from her eyes as she looked at her beloved grandfather. Kato was leaning against the wall and holding his ripped open shoulder. His hand was shining red with fresh blood, and the wound was still bleeding. There wasn't anyway the he was coming with us now.

_Shun_

I watched as Alice knelt by her grandfather's dead-again body. She acted as if she wanted to hold him, but was also reminding herself that he wasn't who he once was. Kato stumbled up and walked towards the transporter. "Miss Alice, could you please tell me the coordinates to where you want to go." I raised an eyebrow. Alice wiped her eyes and said, "Just press that blue button and you'll a list of different dimensions we've been to. Why are you setting the coordinates though? I could of set them myself."

Kato turned to her and smiled and said, "I at least want to die knowing I made sure you two got where you were going." I felt my own eyes water. Kato was faithful all the way to the end. The list came up when he pressed the button, and at the top was Vestal. He asked us, "Will Vestal work?" Alice walked over next to me and held onto my arm.

I told Kato solemnly, "Anywhere is better than here." He nodded his head and selected the coordinates to Vestal. The transporter hummed and the portal opened. I was blinded by the brightness, but they quickly adjusted. In front of us now, was the gate way to our safe haven. I took Alice's hand in mine, and walked up the steps with her. We both stepped into the standing platform and the two large glass doors slide close. I asked Kato, "What are you going to do before you turn?" He smiled, and I knew he wasn't planning on becoming one of those things. Although I couldn't figure what he was planning by looking at his facial expression. That surprised me. "I don't know. Maybe walk around and enjoy the scenery."

I smiled back at Kato. Something about this good-bye stung just as bad as me having to let go of Dan's hand so he could fall to his fate. I turned to Alice and said, "Ready to go?" Her eyes were still wet with previous, and oncoming tears. "No. I'm not ready to leave behind everything I've known my entire life. But I am ready to start over." I placed my lips on hers and tightened my hands grip on hers.

We both faced the portal, and I turned my head back at Kato. "Thanks for everything you've done for us, Kato. It's a shame you can't come with us." He bowed his head, and Alice and I leaped into the portal. As it was closing, I turned and saw Kato standing there waving at us. And the hand pistol pointed to his head. Right before the portal closed, I heard a gunshot, and a body hit the floor. I felt the hairs on my neck stand up after knowing that Kato took his own life, so he wouldn't have an afterlife.

Alice's hand was still in mine as we floating through the portal. I saw tears were flooding from her eyes. I was positive she was thinking just what I was. Our plan had finally worked. We had made it to the transporter and were on our way to safety. I thought about everyone we lost, and how they died. Julie never knew what was coming, and was the first to go. Runo was given a chance to live, but fell just like the first. Poor Murucho was dragged off in his sleep by our friend and eaten alive.

Dan sacrificed himself so he didn't have to suffer the same fate as all others who were bitten. And Kato took his own life with the same gun that I had shot and ended up having to take another's life. The end of the portal was now in our sights. Our bodies went through the opening, and we tumbled onto the ground of Vestal. Alice's eyes were closed and sobs were escaping her mouth.

I looked around, and saw the all too familiar buildings. I wrapped my arms around Alice's body and brought her closer to my body and whispered to her, "We made it. We're safe. We're safe." I sat there holding her, not caring that other Vestals stared at the two human zombie apocalypse survivors. I whispered into her ear, "I love you."

_Shun_

Six years. That was how long we had been here on Vestal. It took us a while to adapt, but we had found Ace, Mira, Keith, and Baron and they had helped us. They didn't believe our story of why we ran to their world. I thought that Baron was the most upset when we told him Dan and the others were gone. The rest just seemed shocked that something like that could of happened. I was sitting in a park bench next to Alice. The air was clean and nice as the wind blew clouds across the blue Vestal sky.

There were days that we couldn't bare to go on knowing that we may have been the last two surviving humans from Earth. Baron's little sister Maron, ran past us and over to the playground equipment. Baron wasn't far behind her, and turned to go and sit with one of his many other siblings. Not many people were out today, which was very odd. In the six years we had spent here, there hadn't seemed to be a slow day at the park yet. There was another person on the other side of the playground equipment that Maron was playing on. He looked familiar. Oddly _human._

I didn't point anything out to Alice, and I focused my eyes to see his face. It all rushed to me at once. He had the face of the man who had stuck me in the arm with tranquilizer and taken me to the underground lab. A vision attacked my mind of him stuffing bags full of vials of antidote serums and such as the zombies ate his staff and colleagues. He was staring right at me, and I felt my heart speeding up and sweat pouring from my forehead.

Alice turned to me and said, "Shun? What's wrong? You look sick." She hadn't noticed him, but I had. And he noticed me. He knew who I was and remembered. The man reached into his pocket and held up a glass vial filled with a red liquid. _Another virus. He's going to let it loose in Vestal!_

I tried to tell myself it had to be injected into somebody for it to take effect. He smiled and shook his head and waved a finger. As if he was telling me that it wasn't the case anymore. He flicked the vial and everything went into slow motion as I yelled, "No!" The glass shattered on the ground, and the red liquid spread from the vial. The man was still smiling, and he waved back at me and walked away. The virus was released once again, and it was airborne now.

* * *

><p>omg! mega cliff-hanger! shame this is the end for now. : i must return to my other story, but there will be a sequeal to this story next year and i promise that it will be finished by Halloween. but, i just want to say thanks to everyone who had read and reviewed the story and supported it all the way. it has become one of my most successful stories so far. maybe even a close second to _Broken Bones._ please do go check the poll and poster if you havent before this zombie fic vanishes into the depths of Fanfiction. thank you all for reading though. it means a lot to me. :) well read, review, and other things once more as we say good-bye till next year. P.S. i will do a Christmas fic. :) ~Copperpelt~


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